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09/14/2018 08:00 AM EDT


By Nolan D. McCaskill (nmccaskill@politico.com or @NolanDMcCaskill)

OVERLOOKED -- Democrats are targeting nearly half of the 44 GOP-held House seats in districts left open by incumbents who are either retiring, resigning or seeking higher office. "The open seats may be an overlooked factor in an election season dominated by GOP angst over a potential voter backlash against President Donald Trump," Elena Schneider reports this morning from Issaquah, Washington. "In the past six midterm elections, the president's party has not retained a single open seat he failed to carry two years prior, according to an analysis by the Cook Political Report's David Wasserman."

"Retirements and open seats could be our biggest problem right now," said Brian Walsh, a Republican consultant who leads the pro-Trump outside group America First. "New candidates have to fight their way through a primary and don't have the same fundraising ability and built-in name recognition [as incumbents]." NRCC Chairman Steve Stivers (R-Ohio) acknowledged that Republicans "have more retirements than I would have liked," but he insists "we have great recruits" running to succeed them. For example, California Republican Young Kim could become the first Korean-American elected to Congress, and Lea Marquez Peterson could become the first Hispanic woman to represent Arizona in Congress.
More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d8572eb81d6a55c1055cd663b6ee4373c9f1ee38b1a71013a8850d017103d1ae929aa21ff1844fd28d6a

NEW SPENDING DEAL -- Appropriators announced a fiscal 2019 spending deal that funds the Pentagon on time for the first time in a decade. "But there's a catch," Sarah Ferris notes. "The same package also funds some of the government's most sprawling agencies at levels that are billions of dollars more than Trump requested. And if Trump refuses to sign it, much of the government, including parts of the Pentagon, would shutter." Appropriators detailed the strategy for the first time Thursday, and the Senate is expected to approve the package next week.

"Under the tactic, lawmakers will vote on a two-bill spending package that funds the Pentagon as well as health, labor and education programs," she adds. "There's also a new third component: Spending leaders said that the package will include temporary funding for every other agency facing a funding lapse on Sept. 30." If approved, the measure would keep those government operations funded until Dec. 7. Conservatives are furious about the domestic spending increases and lack of conservative policy wins, but appropriators believe the president only has two options: Sign the bill or shut down the government, forcing a potential funding crisis at the Pentagon.
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d8570ec5daeff026df76715d5e72538154765409849eb4242e79e0481cd0819f22e2bd1ce14f75fb0a16

VAWA IN CR -- The expiring Violence Against Women Act is set to be extended through Dec. 7 in the continuing resolution, a stopgap spending bill that will fund some government operations a month past Election Day. VAWA was set to expire Sept. 30. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) had filed legislation earlier Thursday to extend VAWA's authorization for six months to give lawmakers more time to negotiate. Stefanik is among a group of 46 moderate Republicans who had urged GOP leaders in a letter last week to pass a bipartisan reauthorization without delay. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d8571b74a46ed5bb37d75813f8675eff16e558c2309a4c18a6fefb60a5d782ee1fe1a8ca892db488594b

HAPPY FRIDAY! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Sept. 14.

** A message from the National Confectioners Association: The confectionery industry is comprised of hundreds of family-owned businesses as well as global companies operating nearly 1,300 facilities in all 50 states. Manufacturing chocolate and candy, we directly employ 54,000 people in the U.S., and we support more than 550,000 American workers in other industries. Learn more at PowerOfSweet.com. **

THURSDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Additional information on the Project on Government Oversight's congressional oversight fellowships was the big winner.

REPUBLICANS RESPOND -- President Donald Trump accused Democrats of inflating the Hurricane Maria death toll in Puerto Rico, framing the nearly 3,000 deaths reported as an overblown figure created "to make me look as bad as possible." House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he had "no reason to dispute" the official death toll, which was updated last month following a George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health study commissioned by Puerto Rico's government. Ryan, however, added that "casualties don't make a person look bad." Other Republicans were more critical.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott, the Republican nominee challenging Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), said he disagreed with the president. "I've been to Puerto Rico 7 times & saw devastation firsthand," Scott tweeted. "The loss of any life is tragic; the extent of lives lost as a result of Maria is heart wrenching." Former Rep. Ron DeSantis' (R-Fla.) gubernatorial campaign said the ex-congressman "doesn't believe any loss of life has been inflated." Trump's tweet, retiring Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) told reporters, "might be a new low." She blasted the president's "warped mind that would turn this statistic into fake news."

Related: "'Mr. President. SHUT UP': Florida Republicans pan Trump's Puerto Rico conspiracy," by Marc Caputo: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d85773a7b08b37725e603c1b45745cc55573b84546bb4193e0b2b280325529007e55adfc82cb9aced234 and Trump tweets roil Florida GOP's play for Puerto Rican voters," from The Associated Press' Gary Fineout: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d85797a96a76c9597115d7c0434324fae24ee4348c761b0f208ed4adb13f8cabc14c6447800ca69807f5

SCOTUS WATCH -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, referred a sensitive letter about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Justice Department after facing private pressure from Senate Democrats on the unreleased document. In a statement, Feinstein said the person who gave her the letter "strongly requested confidentiality, declined to come forward or press the matter further, and I have honored that decision." "The mysterious letter is the latest twist in a charged partisan fight over the nominee's background and documents regarding his history that have not been released," Burgess and Edward-Isaac Dovere report.

Democratic aides say no other Judiciary Democrats have seen the letter. But Democrats met privately Wednesday night to discuss what to do with it. White House spokeswoman Kerri Kupec framed the letter as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) "11th hour attempt to delay" Kavanaugh's confirmation, though a Schumer aide said the New York Democrat hasn't had access to the letter but believes the panel "is handling it appropriately." Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) added that it "smacks of desperation." Kavanaugh is expected to be approved by the committee on Thursday and receive a full floor vote before the end of the month. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d857e23e712cdced574ce5bd1d9aad4f90282dcfd04f6c24d96bcb782fc39d2033eeeb42ffc86ee56401

Related reads: "Bitter Senate fight to confirm Kavanaugh plunges deeper into chaos over letter," per The Washington Post's Seung Min Kim and Elise Viebeck: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d85715dcefedafe1119053b7e75f1b87ba8e88d1670c45c3249fb7e9e5033ea81710cce9e0e1997a1f15 and Kavanaugh: I didn't recognize Parkland dad seeking handshake," via The Associated Press: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d85743ace9037653dd21f5beef6d00dc7ee6e255f1683d1cab1e169dbb3db6e74d41b645625db2e6a5b5

INTERNET TROLL ATTENDS FUNDRAISER WITH GOP CONGRESSMEN -- Internet troll Chuck Johnson attended a July fundraiser for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who invited Johnson to the president's State of the Union address. Johnson has been accused of denying the Holocaust. The fundraiser occurred on a yacht in Newport Beach, California, where Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) spoke on Gaetz's behalf. Johnson helped set up a meeting last year between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Rohrabacher. Johnson donated to Rohrabacher's reelection campaign in Bitcoin and later attended a meeting between the California Republican and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Rohrabacher's campaign finance director, Jason Pitkin, told Mother Jones he didn't remember who invited Johnson to the fundraiser. Kip Talley, the chief of staff for Gaetz's reelection campaign, told Mother Jones in an email that the event was private but "you're welcome to check the FEC reports to see who donated." "According to campaign finance records," David Corn reports, "Gaetz's reelection account raised $2,750 from donors in the Newport Beach area about the time of the fundraiser." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d857443ee7421d379662415bfe5fca1ef2b085d6c407314f7546d659157d3c6c4b230142097085941f13

AUDIO REVEALS NRA, ROSENDALE COORDINATION -- Chris Cox, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action's chief lobbyist, gave Republican Senate candidate Matt Rosendale a heads-up before the group spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his race against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). That's according to Rosendale himself, who shared the news at a Washington event in July. "I fully expect the NRA is going to come in... in August sometime," he said in response to a question. "The Supreme Court confirmations are big. That's what sent the NRA over the line. ... Chris Cox told me, he's like, 'We're going to be in this race.'"

"Rosendale was slightly off in terms of timing, but the NRA did come through as Cox apparently promised," The Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay reports. "Early this month, the group spent more than $400,000 on ads hitting Tester over the precise issue that Rosendale mentioned--the senator's votes on Supreme Court nominations. Rosendale's remarks are potentially problematic, as the NRA-ILA, a 501(c)(4) 'dark-money' group, is legally barred from coordinating its ad buys with a federal campaign." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d857a1a9b2ed10f50bef9a10a3a77fed59f55e320b8ecf24eb02e5fe74eba17248be36e0c0484f7768b9

INTERN ARRESTED -- An intern in Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) office was arrested this week after Capitol Police found shotgun shells in his vehicle. "[O]fficers were called to a 'dispute' between the intern and another individual in a vehicle near the US Capitol," CNN's Kristin Wilson, Sunlen Serfaty and Daniella Diaz report. Officers saw unregistered ammunition in the back of the vehicle and arrested the 20-year-old intern on Monday afternoon. He was charged with possession of unregistered ammunition and is on leave from Cruz's office. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=56be5c102579d8577eef744b438b8d9b5bbbbb4853629de685264a9b147d11770f7962154a60063c391c8fe5743695a0

TRANSITIONS -- Tommy Andrews, House Speaker Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) director of member services, is joining the White House's legislative affairs team.

SPOTTED at a going-away gathering for Andrews on the speaker's balcony: Speaker Paul Ryan, Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Reps. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) and John Katko (R-N.Y.), Jonathan Burks, Shahira Knight, Mollie Thorsen, Parker Poling, Brendan Buck, Mike Ricci, John Milne, Shannon McGahn, Jake Kastan, Jenna Sakwa, Kevin Seifert, Mark Isakowitz, David Hobbs, Danielle Burr, Will Kinzel, Tim McGivern, Derrick Dockery, Alyssa Farah, Doug Andres, AshLee Strong and Alex Moe.

SPOTTED last night at AEI's annual Irving Kristol Award gala: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Reps. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.).

TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House and Senate are out.

AROUND THE HILL -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Reps. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-V.I.) will hold a news conference on still unfinished hurricane recovery in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands at 10:15 a.m. in HVC-Studio A.

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -- Patrick Boland was first to correctly guess that four presidents have each vetoed more than 100 pieces of legislation: Grover Cleveland, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- From Patrick: President Donald Trump is in the WWE Hall of Fame. But who are the only two WWE wrestlers currently serving in elected office? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: nmccaskill@politico.com.

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** A message from the National Confectioners Association: For every job created in confectionery manufacturing, another ten are supported in related industries, creating a 1:10 multiplier effect. Beyond economic impact, America's leading chocolate and candy companies are committed to community engagement, responsible marketing and helping consumers manage their sugar intake. Consumers understand the unique role that chocolate and candy can play in a happy, balanced lifestyle; in fact, most people in the United States enjoy chocolate & candy about twice a week, averaging about 40 calories per day and about one teaspoon of added sugar per day from confectionery items. Confectioners are a
vital piece of the American economy, as they have been manufacturing some of the world's most iconic brands for decades. Learn more about the #PowerOfSweet at PowerOfSweet.com. **

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