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10/10/2018 07:55 AM EDT


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

REPLACING HALEY -- Former White House aide Dina Powell is the top candidate to replace Nikki Haley as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "Powell, who returned to Goldman [Sachs] in a senior role after leaving her job as President Donald Trump's deputy national security adviser, is said to be strongly considering the job but also weighing family concerns," Ben White reports. "Powell already lives in New York, where the U.N. is based, but has young children and left the administration in part to spend more time with family. She is also said to be happy in her job at Goldman."

The White House has contacted Powell about the job, but she has asked for time to consider it. "If nominated, Powell, who served in the George W. Bush administration, could face some opposition from hard-line conservatives," White adds. "But she is also close to many Republicans on Capitol Hill, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Any confirmation would happen in the next Congress." Other possible successors include Richard Grenell, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, and Kelly Craft, the U.S. ambassador to Canada. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611eff4bb5e29073c9b9814802ef0058c4ec75c89b5c48ab58e190f3cb5e4244b484c50ce2573de0b38f

SENATE GOP APPLAUDS HALEY ON WAY OUT -- Senate Republicans hailed the outgoing ambassador, who was easily confirmed 96-4 in 2017. "Our nation has benefited greatly from the tough, skilled leadership that Nikki Haley brought to the United Nations," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) added that Haley was "a fierce advocate for U.S. interests during her time as U.N. ambassador." "While I hated to hear of her departure," Corker continued, "I have enjoyed working with her and am thankful for her willingness to serve." Haley will leave the administration at the end of the year.

But the timing of her announcement, which comes a month before Election Day, not only caught most of Washington off guard but also took attention away from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's first day on the bench. However, "[T]wo people familiar with her thinking said she did not want her departure to appear to be a response to Republican losses in the midterms, should they happen," Eliana Johnson reports. "Nor did she want her exit to seem to be propelled by the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller, whose probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is expected to conclude in the new year, or by any other negative event." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611ec6b42a474329f17456a20a3afbec0d67e37c7680b9cab3520b09c9d541a98117f389b65cb44df744

Related: "GOP on timing of Haley's announcement: 'Unusual' and 'odd,'" by The Hill's Alexander Bolton: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e2c91fb930fd1069e81114089b31a522dcc36b5c0b60045e8c0948d977c4563cc7a1ca97b2e92a157 and "Haley's departure sparks a battle for the future of Trump's foreign policy," from The Washington Post's Josh Rogin: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611ecbda0924ff83ae8b79039dd197263da2ef2ba6d22a5b993c56235b9e5b1e2914f3bde0adda5d78fc

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Oct. 10.

TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: The Associated Press' report on Brett Kavanaugh's first workday as a Supreme Court justice was the big winner.

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BUILD THE WALL ACT -- House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will introduce legislation this week to fully fund the president's border wall. The legislation is "about $23.4 billion more than what has already gone to the wall effort," Breitbart's Matthew Boyle reports. The money would also fund enforcement measures that have already passed the chamber. "Congress has already directed $1.6 billion to wall funding in the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2018 that just passed Congress, and McCarthy's new bill--titled the 'Build the Wall, Enforce the Law Act'--would take the wall the rest of the way, in addition to providing for a variety of enforcement measures," Boyle adds.

"President Trump's election was a wakeup call to Washington," McCarthy said in a statement. "The American people want us to build the wall and enforce the law. Maintaining strong borders is one of the basic responsibilities of any nation. For too long, America has failed in this responsibility." McCarthy, who would need to win over conservatives to become speaker if Republicans maintain control of the House, will visit the southern border today to meet with Border Patrol agents. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611eb387451fe0816094ddbe80f8faff21b1f39cbf4c95eaa3561481ba522f66e799466e37ae0656b130

Related read: "Trump's midterm pitch: Vote for me," per Christopher Cadelago: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611eefc6843398a2ff03705a502d7c82ae2297b2bbbc278568de5be43cb91bd4efe89808c203444d75b7

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have said they wouldn't move to fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has left that option open if Republicans maintain control of the Senate. "If I'm chairman, they won't take it up," Grassley said. "No, because I pledged that in 2016, that if the ball's the same as it is. Now, if somebody else is the chairman of the committee, they'll have to decide for themselves. But that's a decision I made a long time ago."

Graham, who could become the next committee chairman, told CNN he would be inclined to "take it into the next presidency" once the 2020 primaries kick off. McConnell blocked President Barack Obama's final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, in 2016, arguing that voters should have a say in the next justice. "The move infuriated Democrats, who accused Republicans of abandoning their constitutional duty to advise and consent," The Washington Post's Felicia Sonmez writes. "But on Monday, McConnell cited a different calculus, telling reporters in Louisville that opposition parties in control of the Senate do not traditionally confirm high court nominees during presidential election years."
More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e96bbae5af534e3f9bec473d05182598612a76f8788332cc2d063fccb93a9d26da6a09f0fa346f827

Related: "Is Mitch McConnell doing a 180 on filling a Supreme Court seat in an election year?" via The Washington Post's Amber Phillips: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e93a13c5c009c3292a51bffeef73166bd10b57668c4ede3243845b7134c3a4cbc82548d6d8f369191

GRAHAM SILENCES AG TALK -- Even the president has been curious about whether Graham is interested in becoming attorney general. Trump asked him -- jokingly, Graham said -- over the weekend. But the South Carolina Republican told him, "No, I wouldn't give this up for anything." Trump acknowledged "that would be kind of stupid." Graham, who is up for reelection in 2020, told CNN he doesn't want to serve in Trump's Cabinet. "I got the best job in town," Graham said. "You can do like 100 things here. I ain't going nowhere. If the people of South Carolina keep me, I'll stay." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611ecd5ca122f5465f71f191c1adac7212c08c2c093d55e9ca2a9e8956ea9730d3e43078ce83d8ee466a

SCOTUS RULING HURTS HEITKAMP -- The Supreme Court is allowing North Dakota to implement a voter ID law next month requiring voters to present certain forms of identification and proof of a residential address to cast ballots. "A case challenging this requirement on behalf of the state's sizable Native American populations alleged that the requirement would disenfranchise tribal residents, many of whom lack the proper identification and do not have residential addresses on their identification cards," Mother Jones' Pema Levy reports. The ruling is a blow to Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), the chamber's most vulnerable Democrat.

"Heitkamp won her seat by less than 3,000 votes in 2012 with strong backing from Native Americans, and she is the only statewide elected Democrat," Levy notes. "North Dakota Republicans began changing voting rules to make it harder to cast a ballot months after Heitkamp's victory six years ago. Republicans have claimed the changes to voter ID requirements are intended to stop voter fraud, even though in-person fraud is exceedingly rare." Newly minted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom Heitkamp voted against, did not participate in the decision. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan dissented. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e955eadf7171d0bea6e1f2db80e8cad0b4d4a308e13b7254f04caa0d862a9da4c26fbc14e1274608b

Related read: "Kavanaugh joins court, with few signs of bruising confirmation fight," by Josh Gerstein: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e300f8df1cd196eeaa07a85c70ad47d7bd53322cd750d2a7fe7804055868c09739d305fc7e8930b08

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEFEND MURKOWSKI -- Senate Republicans are fretting about Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-Alaska) future and whether the president's rhetoric will alienate her on future votes. Still, even as she faces a possible censure from the Alaska GOP after now opposing Kavanaugh and Obamacare repeal, Republicans are jumping to her defense. Murkowski, who isn't up for reelection until 2022, is facing blowback at home but remains in good standing among her Senate GOP colleagues. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is vowing to "fully" fight back against any retribution, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is willing to fight any effort to strip Murkowski of her Energy and Natural Resources Committee
chairmanship. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611ec4dbe1039f314afca0f4fdaecd812a91d901b48a3ce22b9dbf2e819ffb3fa71e6b9d9e62f8ccc3ef

Related: "Dems line up to take on Collins after Kavanaugh vote," from James Arkin: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e6b88bc993f1a3396ae801d2fefc154056620e0ecbb43ba4a8c3b3f22f0ebba31f9554b221cc73058 and "Senate Democrats shift focus away from Kavanaugh and pivot to health care," per CNN's Manu Raju: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e99cf464c3bff2bc78d89e6968a359a4fe8e8ca1e72568232ddc99bae5f5d2408c1ea89d3f11f77db

CPC CENTER -- Progressive House Democrats on Tuesday launched the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center, "an entity intended to build infrastructure to better unite the soon-to-increase number of progressive members of Congress with outside groups that support progressive issues," BuzzFeed News' Alexis Levinson reports. "The center will help craft specific policy proposals, provide policy and personnel resources to members of Congress, and mobilize outside groups to help get those policies passed." Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) announced its creation in a conference call. More progressives are poised to join Congress next year, and the center intends to play a
role in the 2020 presidential race.

After the midterms, Pocan said, outreach to potential candidates is the "next step." Pocan and Jayapal have raised $1.5 million for the center's first year. Donors have pledged to fund the center at those levels for three years. "The money will fund a full-time staff of nine," Levinson notes. "The Progressive Caucus has operated with a single full-time staff member, something Pocan said has limited the number of things House progressives can focus on, and the increased staff will give them more room to maneuver. The center will also pay three to five fellows, who will be placed in congressional offices, as part of an effort to get more progressive staffers in Congress." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=2594fe14fa91611e06425ce5546cced0ed4273a277e2aafc64113dc01978807b6fbdafeb1291c9e438c756930393cb23

TRANSITIONS -- Ben Kochman is now a senior congressional affairs officer for the Department of Transportation. He was previously legislative director for Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas).

Beth Breeding is now vice president of communications and marketing at the National Turkey Federation. She was previously deputy chief of staff for Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.).

HAPPY 19TH ANNIVERSARY: Amy Phillips Bursch, Sen. Debbie Stabenow's (D-Mich.) speechwriter, and Eric Bursch, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp's (D-N.D.) HSGAC subcommittee staff director, on Monday celebrated "19 years of wedded bliss (and daily iced tea dates at Dirksen)," according to a Huddle tipster.

WEEKEND WEDDING -- Rachel Dolin, a professional staff member for the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, married Thomas Eager, a professional staff member for the House Intelligence Committee, on Sunday at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, Connecticut. The couple was married by Commander Michael Bahar, Thomas' former boss from the Intelligence Committee. Pic

TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The Senate meets at 10 a.m. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will be recognized to offer a motion to proceed to a joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval relating to short-term, limited duration insurance. At 11:30 a.m., the chamber will vote on the motion to concur with respect to a water infrastructure bill and then the joint resolution. At 2:30 p.m., the chamber will hold a procedural vote on Jeffrey Bossert Clark's nomination to be assistant attorney general. The House is out.

AROUND THE HILL -- Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and FBI Director Christopher Wray will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in a hearing on threats to the homeland at 8:30 a.m. in 342 Dirksen.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) will hold a news conference to release the 2018 annual report on human rights conditions and the rule of law in China at 11 a.m. in SVC-215.

Senate Republican and Democratic leaders will hold separate news conferences after their weekly policy lunches starting around 2 p.m. in the Ohio Clock Corridor.

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -- Kirtan Mehta was first to correctly guess that that the Navy runs the White House Mess, a small dining facility that was established in 1951.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- From John-Paul Mantone: Who was the only president whose first language was not English? 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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