Subject: POLITICO Huddle, presented by The Science Coalition: TRUMP TRIES TO RALLY THE TROOPS – Fincher enters Tenn Senate race – SENATE VOTES ON HURRICANE AID – House Intel questions Trump digital director
From: "POLITICO Huddle" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2017 05:57:43 -0600
List-Id: <1376319_7148480.xt.local>

10/23/2017 07:56 AM EDT

By Heather Caygle ([email-masked] or @heatherscope)
 
TRUMP TRIES TO RALLY THE TROOPS - Both the House and Senate are back this week with Republicans desperate to keep up momentum in their march toward tax reform. President Donald Trump hit House Republicans with some tough love during a conference call Sunday, telling lawmakers they need to pass the Senate budget as soon as possible - or pay a heavy price in 2018. The House is expected to vote on the Senate budget later this week, a move that, if successful, will allow Republicans to muscle through a tax overhaul in the Senate via a simple majority vote. "We are on the verge of doing something very, very historic," Trump said on the call.
 
What's at stake: House conservatives are facing heavy pressure to swallow a budget that goes against their core principles by adding $1.5 trillion to the deficit. But Trump and other GOP leaders, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and House Budget Chairwoman Diane Black (R-Tenn.), argue the move will speed things up and likely result in the House passing a bill to rewrite the tax code by Thanksgiving. Trump has also reached out to some reluctant House conservatives one-on-one recently and the president will be on the Hill to huddle with Senate Republicans tomorrow. Rachael with the deets: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=732f7f200696df4aac55edf78660a0f0e3d3b09c615ab83e9a02cb57ada1bdcb3f6afb421d63285c81edad7e2321c465 
 
'It's going to come': But Republicans know the biggest obstacle to tax reform could be the president himself, as Bernie Becker and Aaron Lorenzo report. Trump has a penchant for distractions - see his latest ongoing spat with Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) - and has undercut his party by making deals with Democratic leaders and publicly criticizing Republican-led legislative efforts. GOP lawmakers are already bracing for Trump to disrupt tax negotiations: "Sure, it's going to come," said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who had his own very public feud with the president recently. 
 
"I think the Democrats are crazy to not try and deal with him directly," Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said, the Washington Post reports. "Seven years ago, he was a Democrat. It doesn't take any brains to realize that he'd be open." Even so, the president tried to reassure anxious GOP lawmakers about his loyalty on the call yesterday: "I'm a Republican inside-out and backwards," Trump said. 
 
FRIEND-IN-CHIEF - Trump and Sen. Lindsey Graham have come a long way since sparring on the campaign trail, when they were trading put-downs like "jackass" and "idiot." Now they're talking daily on the phone, regularly hitting the links together on the weekends and the president even gave Graham a guided tour on a Marine One ride back to the White House. The South Carolina Republican has built up sizable influence in recent months and is so entrenched that the White House has sought Graham's input on health care, Iran and even whip counts, even though he is not a committee chairman and isn't in leadership, Burgess and Josh Dawsey report. 
 
Watch your back: Graham does have some competition for Trump's affections, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who also golfed with the president recently. But Graham doesn't seem worried: "Uh, no. Everybody's on my side and Rand's just Rand," he said. Sergio Gor, Paul's spokesman, hit back, calling Graham one of D.C.'s "leading swamp creatures." Burgess and Dawsey with much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ee6ccc19eb296797ccffa064a55b17d97c0e00df586cc71c966088ef311f1bed64bffec7d4519902abb4207a05d03115 
 
ALRIGHT Y'ALL, IT'S MONDAY. WE'RE HERE. WE'RE CAFFEINATED. Welcome to Oct. 23 and thanks for tuning in to POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. In case you missed it, Alabama rolled over the Tennessee Volunteers this weekend, whooping them 45-7. Bres is still celebrating the big victory. 
 
FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Sarah and Seung Min's story about what's next for tax reform after the Senate passed its budget was the winner, just beating out my Friday jams link to Huddle's favorite Hall and Oates ditty. 
 
MOVEMENT ON HEALTH CARE DEAL? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he'd be willing to bring the bipartisan Alexander-Murray health care bill to the floor for a vote - if Trump gives his endorsement first. "I'm not certain yet, what the president is looking for here, but I'll be happy to bring a bill to the floor if I know President Trump would sign it," McConnell said on CNN Sunday. Trump has wavered in his support for the bill to stabilize Obamacare markets over the last week, simultaneously encouraging the legislation while criticizing it as a bailout for insurance companies. At least 60 senators have come out publicly in support of the bill, enough to guarantee passage if
 it comes to the floor. 
 
TENNESSEE SENATE RACE HEATS UP - Former Tennessee Rep. Stephen Fincher will take on Rep. Marsha Blackburn in the quest for retiring Sen. Bob Corker's seat next year. Fincher served in the House from 2011 until 2017. Fincher could appeal to the establishment wing of the party while Blackburn probably has him beat, at least for now, on statewide name recognition, reports the Tennessean. Joey Garrison with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ee6ccc19eb296797ae329fcf07d9e096731c7dd3fe998bb3270f8c1c9d53c3f7479580abe1554fbf1602336528fddacc 
 
QUOTE DU JOUR: Sen. John McCain seemed to take a swipe at Trump - without mentioning him by name - over the president's repeated Vietnam War deferments. "One aspect of the conflict by the way that I will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur," McCain said on C-SPAN Sunday. "That is wrong. That is wrong. If we are going to ask every American to serve, every American should serve." Trump had five deferments during the Vietnam War, including one for bone spurs. 
 
CASH CORNER - The Republican National Committee has raised more than $104 million since Trump took office, relying in part on the president's tweets to cultivate small-dollar donors who have never contributed before, the Hill reports. The RNC ended September with $44 million in the bank while the Democratic National Committee only has $7 million on hand, according to the latest FEC filings. The DNC is facing a daunting rebuilding effort under Tom Perez after a contentious leadership battle earlier this year and many donors are refusing to write checks, Gabriel Debenedetti and Edward-Isaac Dovere report for POLITICO. "Donors, small and large, are so over the party," Nebraska party chair Jane
 Kleeb said. 
 
And Democrats are jittery about the upcoming Virginia governor's race, worried about what a loss would mean for the party's strategy and fundraising just as it's about to gear up for the midterms, the Washington Post reports. More from Dave Weigel and Ed O'Keefe: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ee6ccc19eb296797782799766f1c5544ac19466231a492509573a618c519ea3bd62a1a22effcbd98875fa710407b0b5b 

** A message from The Science Coalition: Join The Science Coalition on Wednesday for a panel discussion with the founders and CEOs of companies created from federally funded university research. Hear how American-made innovation - fueled by the nation's investment in basic scientific research - is creating jobs and sparking economic growth across the US. Learn more and RSVP: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e6fd431f345b26c2c135b9789841beeeabb1c9dd41470d195970183fb1ffc0cb2a1cc69ac2ea4426ea7c5540de3a7f7c **
 
SENATE CONSIDERS HURRICANE AID BILL - The Senate is expected to move quickly this week on a $36.5 billion disaster relief package that passed the House earlier this month. The chamber will hold a procedural vote on the bill this evening with a vote on final passage expected no later than Tuesday. The bill would replenish disaster aid accounts and provide "$16 billion to permit the financially troubled federal flood insurance program to pay an influx of Harvey-related claims. But it rejects requests from the powerful Texas and Florida congressional delegations for additional money to rebuild after hurricanes Harvey and Irma," the AP's Andrew Taylor reports. More: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e6fd431f345b26c2097a716d67c63ba40ef4ef660e8f8e9d28a4cc496b69419e3a3476e69a19eff6549f437179c9b0bd 
 
WARREN WATCH - Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), long known for eschewing hallway interviews that are common in the Capitol, is doing things a little differently now. Warren took questions from reporters after a hearing recently, an event so rare "that her office had to announce it was happening by e-mail first," the Boston Globe reports. Warren, who is up for reelection next year, is also engaging more with reporters back home, holding 42 media opportunities with Massachusetts reporters this year, and participating in off-the-record dinners with journalists in D.C. Republicans, meanwhile, say it's all an attempt to prepare her for a 2020 White House run. Victoria McGrane: 
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e6fd431f345b26c2c1de8ae70114acbe8601f36bfbce848be0e04027f2261156c107dba328a6265b7fbd217e1ec350e8 
 
BLURRED LINES - USA Today's Eliza Collins reports on the porous border between Breitbart's editorial department and Steve Bannon's personal political crusade. One recent example is when Breitbart's Matthew Boyle sat in on a meeting between Bannon and former Rep. Michael Grimm, who is trying to reclaim his old House seat. "Boyle 'didn't ask questions, but as the meeting turned from "Who are you and should we support you?" to "OK we're going to support you. What are we gonna to do for you?" he got more involved in the discussions,'" said Michael Caputo, a Grimm aide. "It seemed to me like he gained interest and he said, 'Look, this is something that fits into our editorial direction. How can
 we work together?'" More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=e6fd431f345b26c2ddd2c89a4f76c96e80b80de7c31e801135aaea59783e9d7f33b9ccafc06965885ed000ba3cb6a63f 
 
COMING ATTRACTIONS - The House Intelligence Committee will interview Brad Parscale, digital director for the Trump campaign, on Tuesday as part of its ongoing Russia probe. This is Parscale's first appearance before any of the congressional committees looking into Russian meddling, the Wall Street Journal's Julie Bykowicz reports. Parscale recently told 60 Minutes that any idea the Trump campaign colluded with Russia is "just a joke." Meanwhile, hopes on Capitol Hill are rapidly dwindling that any of the three committees investigating Russia will provide an "authoritative and bipartisan accounting" of what actually happened during the campaign, reports Nicholas Fandos for the New York
 Times. 
 
TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House gavels in at 12 p.m. with votes on several noncontroversial bills postponed until 6:30 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=5f21520ac4081605198b99ed9e3e0fb6cb21815d0259d942459af3cfff5c24315f8545e8ed969823784642b953ba5209 The Senate meets at 3 p.m. with a roll call vote related to the hurricane aid bill at 5:30 p.m. 
 
AROUND THE HILL - Things are quiet until lawmakers return to the Hill this evening. 
 
FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Eva Hicks was first to guess that former Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell is a judo champion, winning national titles and competing in the 1964 summer Olympics. Campbell represented Colorado from 1993 until 2005. 
 
TODAY'S TRIVIA - These two men have the distinction of holding two of the same offices during their careers in government, the only grandfather-grandson pair to do so. Name them and the two offices they both held. 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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