Subject: POLITICO Huddle: WH PREPS $29B AID REQUEST – Trump, McCarthy travel to Las Vegas – PENCE AIDE TALKS GOP ‘PURGE’ – Dreamers deal gets harder
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 04 Oct 2017 05:53:48 -0600
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10/04/2017 07:52 AM EDT

By Heather Caygle ([email-masked] or @heatherscope)
 
DISASTER AID REQUEST EXPECTED TODAY - The White House is preparing to send a huge disaster aid request to Congress today - to the tune of $29 billion - that includes new money for hurricane victims and billions more to shore up the federal flood insurance program. Congress approved a $15 billion aid infusion last month but lawmakers have known they'd need to revisit the issue after a string of hurricanes battered Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The new request includes $13 billion for FEMA and $16 billion for the flood insurance program, which is quickly running out of cash to pay claims from hurricane victims.
 
"The request could prove controversial, especially the huge infusion into the flood insurance program. Conservatives are likely to liken it to a taxpayer bailout, but the program is enormously important to homeowners in hurricane-ravaged Texas and Florida, as well as other coastal states," the AP's Andrew Taylor reports. 
 
TRUMP TRAVELS TO LAS VEGAS - President Trump will travel to Las Vegas today to meet with victims of the shooting and their families. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will join the president on the trip. Three people from McCarthy's Bakersfield, Calif., district were killed in the shooting and another, an off-duty police officer, was injured and is in the hospital. 
 
DEMS WEIGH POLITICS OF GUN CONTROL - House Democrats will gather on the Capitol steps this morning to honor victims of the Las Vegas shooting and rebuke Republicans for once again refusing to take action on guns. But Democratic sources say they don't expect another House sit-in like last year after the Orlando nightclub shooting or that gun control will become a primary campaign issue for them heading into the midterms. "It doesn't seem to make a great difference at the ballot box, and that's frustrating," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday.
 
The difference in approach speaks to the tricky, shifting politics of guns for Democrats: Elevating the issue heading into Nov. 2018 - something Democrats said this week they have no plans to do - could repel the very voters they need to woo to regain control of Congress. Not to mention make their vulnerable red-state Democrats prime for Republican attacks. Your Huddle host and Elana with much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa8c88ddba864019baf0fce10dc33d2084b9106e40d07c75e5ab306d274016d3078307921b627425e7aebb3d0b38266e48 
 
Related: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told Fox News Tuesday his views on gun rights were "fortified" after he was shot by a lone gunman in June. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) swatted away questions about gun control reforms at his weekly press conference. Burgess: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daafaa4d83a0fdd00c71a86fb1767d280fd1b2b9f9b8c1fd20798ea3b1d1c9498ae460d9a4092eb82ecfa00260f5761e1f8 
 
THE DEVIL-MAY-CARE CAUCUS - There's a growing power structure to pay attention to within the Senate Republican Conference: senators who are flexing their independence, willing to buck the president if it means a vote for principles over party line, even on some of the GOP's most cherished agenda items like repealing Obamacare and tax reform. Retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who took a hard line on tax reform over the weekend, joins a group that includes other contrarians like John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Rand Paul. 
 
"People have lost their heads since the election," Corker said of his opposition to a tax plan that adds to the deficit. "Are we folks who care about leaving this country better for future generations? Or are we all about 'party-time' here, to make ourselves beloved by people not having to pay taxes but throwing kids under the bus down the road?" Burgess and Seung Min with the story on how this could spell trouble for tax reform: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa3d646de4b251c22180aa67c299a42680ff2b460d665ec33658e00ec41134aad61122bc9952dc66db1c59eabeb024eb6b 
 
WOOP WOOP, IT'S WEDNESDAY ALREADY. Welcome to Oct. 4 and thanks for tuning in to POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. 
 
TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Our story about House GOP leaders shelving the gun silencer bill after the Las Vegas shooting. 
 
PENCE AIDE TALKS GOP 'PURGE' - A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence said GOP leaders and lawmakers who don't fully back Trump should be "purged" from the party and Republican donors should stop giving them money until they fall in line. Nick Ayers, Pence's chief of staff, made the controversial comments at a closed-door RNC event with wealthy donors Tuesday. Ayers said the GOP is "on track to get shellacked" in next year's midterms if Republican leaders don't start notching some wins heading into 2018. "On a year where we could be totally on offense because of how favorable the Senate map is to us -- at best it's going to be a wash," he said, according to a recording obtained by Andrew
 Restuccia and Matt Nussbaum. Their scoop: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa6a8fee730fdeb08942404a0776cb74ceb110d0b49f299738df2c4b0246b5b25765a56e5ba10804b5056961f92442364b 
 
THE WAITING (IS THE HARDEST PART) - Loyalists of the president are losing patience with Republican leaders over the wide-ranging Russia probes creeping into his inner circle, Kyle and Elana report this morning. The House and Senate intel committees along with the Senate Judiciary Committee are all conducting their own probes into Russian election meddling, separate from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. "Three investigations is just way too many," said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). "Some of them need to step back and wait until we see what evidence is educed." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daad432ac433e2871cb37c7b6558d27e9e9a4948bff501d40f74210eb158ec77be32acab642555c6a677e3743ef8edd082a 
 
-- Senate Intel leaders will provide an update on their investigation at a 12:15 p.m. press conference today. 
 
SAY WHAT NOW? "House conservatives - desperate for a win on tax reform - are open to nixing some newly proposed tax cuts on the wealthy, challenging the GOP's tax-cuts-for-all orthodoxy," Rachael and Aaron Lorenzo report. "Multiple House Freedom Caucus members said they'd support maintaining the 39.6 percent tax rate on upper-income earners instead of reducing it to 35 percent under the current GOP plan." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daaa59752154d580a8c3baa6e656edf1ce95e97fc463b0c973a34b26811e8b14ae0ade5c4cae948ebcff8d2ae2e95e708e0 
 
TRUMP'S IRAN DEAL STRATEGY - "Trump's national security team has unanimously recommended that he decertify the Iran nuclear deal - but that he stop short of pushing Congress to reimpose sanctions on Tehran that could unravel the agreement," Eliana Johnson scoops. The president has until Oct. 15 to certify the accord. Several GOP lawmakers, who unanimously opposed the deal in 2015, have wavered about whether Congress should move to quickly reimpose sanctions if Trump did buck the deal, SMK and Elana reported yesterday.
 
MURPHY BOMBSHELLS OVER ABORTION, STAFF TREATMENT - Rep. Tim Murphy, a pro-life Republican from Pennsylvania, encouraged his mistress to have an abortion during a pregnancy scare, according to a jaw-dropping article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The report also details a six-page memo from Murphy's long-time chief of staff laying out what she says is a lengthy pattern of anger issues and mental abuse that left staffers to the lawmaker living in fear and fleeing his office. Murphy's office had nearly a 100 percent turnover in staff within one year, according to the chief's memo. Much more from reporter Paula Reed Ward: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daaa8d099cbce6fae8dda08649eae5505626867f0002baf652d9f93b6a6e467244ac1f6f4f385b42a97c68a1c97d4de25c1 
 
DREAMERS DEAL GETS HARDER - The president appears to be taking a much more rigid stance in negotiations to protect Dreamers after a dinner earlier this week with several influential GOP lawmakers. "One new requirement, according to one senator who attended: Congress needs to pass a bill that addresses solely the current population of DACA recipients, rather than a broader circle of young undocumented immigrants," Seung Min and Burgess report. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Trump is also on board with demanding border wall funding as part of the deal, something he'd agreed to let go of during his initial agreement with Democratic leaders last month. Much more: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa33256f3419037c9a9e4c230f84bb8fc5f170b9717fe659f544cfc986e179e59ec83511b53d35d8f26b6a3128703e4d2c 
 
ON SECOND THOUGHT... Speaker Paul Ryan last week urged the White House to reconsider ousting HHS Secretary Tom Price, his longtime friend who had come under fire for often using taxpayer-funded private jets for travel, Josh Dawsey and Rachael report. Ryan made the request during a call from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to let the speaker know Price would be stepping down. 
 
HUDDLE FIRST LOOK: DGA VIDEO TARGETS BROWNBACK - Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (a former senator) will be on Capitol Hill this morning for his nomination hearing to be the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. But first the Democratic Governors Association is out with a video targeting Brownback's controversial tax plan, which eventually triggered a Republican revolt against him within the state to reverse some of the massive cuts. The DGA video: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa4869c8c7cfa22a2877745a1f255128c67d71ca25ce4c0375a58e5db830bcfa1aa5d16a0b6b9b39ced6b948cc5ff7b81e 

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m. with roll call votes at 11 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa6b7d92477c2c08e344f62db231b3342265dfd9392aef6017936be10861173a8318714da825c0855a59dd9f2579e52bc2 The House meets at 10 a.m. to begin consideration of its budget resolution with first votes at 1:30 p.m. and last votes around 9 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=b9a215b960589daa4ef3b45b532b5bacac65f1f10c2bd5404d01fad55e5a8741e2afe72ef439d2513d3e88f3052ff454f8c16381248fe3c7 
 
AROUND THE HILL - House Democrats and former Rep. Gabby Giffords honor Las Vegas shooting victims on the Capitol steps starting at 9 a.m. The New Democrat Coalition hosts a panel on infrastructure starting at 9:30 a.m. in 340 Cannon.
 
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) and Richard Neal (D-Mass.) hold a press conference on the GOP's budget and tax reform plans at 10:30 a.m. in the Radio/TV gallery. 
 
Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) will be holding a press conference to provide an update on the Russia investigation at 12:15 p.m. in the in the Radio/TV gallery. 
 
House Financial Services ranking member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Reps. Al Green (D-Texas), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) hold a press conference on Wells Fargo consumer abuse at 12 p.m. in 421 Cannon. House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) hosts a conference call on federal response efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands at 12:45 p.m. RSVP: [email-masked]. 
 
Schumer, Pelosi and Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Jayapal hold a press conference with progressive advocates on the GOP tax plan at 1:30 p.m. in the House triangle. 
 
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) hold a press conference on legislation to protect Dreamers at 2 p.m. in the Senate swamp. Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), and Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) unveil the Blue Dog's tax reform plan at 2 p.m. in HVC 110. 
 
Members of Congress received a classified briefing on FISA at 2:15 p.m. in the CVC Auditorium. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), co-chairs of the House Freedom of the Press Caucus, host a briefing on attacks on journalists in Russia and other post-Soviet states at 3 p.m. in SVC 208. Pelosi will participate in a CNN town hall starting at 9 p.m. 
 
TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Stephan Kline was first to guess that the last person to lead both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee was Justin Morrill, Republican of Vermont, in the late 1800's. 
 
TODAY'S TRIVIA - Stephan with today's question: Which current senator has served as chairman of the same committee in both the House and Senate? Name the person and the committee. Send your best guess my way: [email-masked]. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. 
 
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