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By Scott Wong (
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VA REFORM TALKS COLLAPSE - POLITICO's Burgess Everett and Lauren French have the state of play: "When revelations surfaced earlier this summer that the Department of Veterans Affairs provided poor health care to veterans - leading to some deaths - a genuine scandal erupted and Congress promised to impose big changes. But staring down the August recess, the effort to overhaul the agency is on the verge of collapse.

-- "The trouble doesn't center on substantive policy differences. In fact, Democrats and Republicans agree on the core outlines of the bill. Instead, Congress is in the middle of another standoff over money. Democrats and Republicans are struggling to agree on how to pay for legislation that could cost between $25 billion and $30 billion. That logjam is transforming the VA debate from one that united both parties to yet another fiscal fight, prompting the same type of partisan finger pointing that has become familiar after years of budget showdowns. ...

-- "Tension that had been bubbling for weeks exploded with a parade of Senate Democrats taking to the floor Thursday to blast House Republicans for suddenly calling a conference committee meeting. They said that decision was made unilaterally by House Veterans Affairs' Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) to offer a 'take-it-or-leave-it' proposal with just days left before a five-week congressional recess. Miller responded by accusing Senate Veterans' Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) of lobbing 'grenades' at him through the media."
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SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-ARIZ.) said the botched execution of a convicted murderer in his home state amounted to "torture." He said he believes in the death penalty but that the people involved should be held responsible.
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SOME DEMS BALK AS OBAMA FIGHTS TAX LOOPHOLE 'INVERSIONS' - Richard Rubin and Kathleen Hunter report for Bloomberg: "At least four Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee say they're not ready to back the push by President Barack Obama and party leaders for retroactive tax legislation to prevent companies from moving their legal addresses out of the U.S. In interviews and statements this week, Senators Tom Carper of Delaware, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Warner of Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania all declined to back a stand-alone retroactive tax bill to limit inversions. ... The tactical split makes it harder to pass Democratic legislation to penalize eight companies including
Medtronic Inc. and AbbVie Inc. with pending mergers that would move their legal addresses outside the U.S. to limit their tax bills."
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-- SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-W.VA.) told National Journal's Ron Fournier he'd back legislation outlawing inversions, even though the senator's CEO daughter said last week her generic-drug company was renouncing its U.S. citizenship and incorporating in the Netherlands to take advantage of tax loopholes.
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FRANCE: NO SURVIVORS IN AIR ALGERIE CRASH - Doug Stanglin reports for USA Today: "A French military unit dispatched to secure the site in Mali where an Air Algerie jetliner with 116 people aboard crashed Thursday found no survivors, but was able to recover a black box, French President Francois Hollande announced Friday. The jet, an MD-83, disappeared from radar less than an hour after departing Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, en route to Algiers. ... 'We think the plane went down due to weather conditions, but no hypothesis can be excluded as long as we don't have the results of an investigation,' French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told RTL radio, the Associated Press
reported. 'Terrorist groups are in the zone ... We know these groups are hostile to Western interests ... '"
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HOUSE GOP FRETS ABOUT PUNTING BORDER BILL TO FALL - Peter Schroeder and Cristina Marcos report for The Hill: "House Republicans are growing anxious about leaving town for the August recess without passing a border bill. Ahead of a pivotal conference meeting Friday morning, rank-and-file lawmakers are openly fretting about the questions they would face from constituents if they break from legislative work without taking action to address the surge of child migrants into the United States. Many argue that if they fail to pass a bill, even one that is a total non-starter with Democrats, they'll give President Obama five weeks of open airtime to pound them as do-nothing obstructionists. ...

-- "'I don't think we ought to go home until we've dealt with it,'said Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas). 'The president has done a proposal, and if we don't act on that, or reject that and don't come up with a solution of our own, public opinion will swing against us. And we've already got such great approval ratings. 'I was talking to one member who said, 'Yea, if we don't do anything, I'm canceling all my town halls,' ' he added."
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GOOD FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 25, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of all the action on Capitol Hill. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to
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TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate is out today and returns on Monday. The House meets at 10 a.m. with first and last votes between noon and 1:30 p.m. on a resolution directing the president to remove troops, other than Armed Forces required to protect diplomatic facilities and personnel, from Iraq. The House also will take up the Child Tax Credit Improvement Act; Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act; and a Democratic motion to instruct conferees on a VA reform bill.

AROUND THE HILL - Rep. Luis Gutierrez and immigration advocates hold a conference call to discuss the state of play of the child refugees crisis, at 12:30 p.m. DIAL: 866-952-1908; Passcode: IMMIGRATION. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi holds a weekly press conference at 9:30 a.m. in HVC Studio A.Reps. Bill Foster and Jared Polis call on the Defense Department to allow DREAMERs in the military, at 10 a.m. at the House Triangle. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. George Miller and others speak on Democrats' 'Middle Class Jumpstart' agenda at 11 a.m. in HVC-215.

DEMS CIRCLE WAGONS AROUND WALSH - Manu Raju and Burgess Everett report for the hometown paper: "Senate Democrats went into full-fledged damage control Thursday to protect embattled Montana Sen. John Walsh, a day after plagiarism revelations that imperil his election hopes this fall. Despite a mountain of evidence suggesting that Walsh may have obtained a key academic credential improperly, the party leadership, Montana Democrats and members of the rank and file closed ranks behind the appointed senator - arguing that voters should overlook a relatively minor mistake when weighed against his military service in Iraq and career serving his country. Or, as Sen. Jon Tester put it, 'He's a
soldier, not an academic.'

-- "The revelations in Wednesday's New York Times report - that Walsh copied substantial passages of his final paper to obtain his master's degree in 2007 without proper attribution - threaten to derail the Democratic senator's already-steep climb against Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who is leading in the polls. Montana had long been viewed as a long shot for Democrats in the national fight for control of the Senate, and the plagiarism allegations seemed to make a tough race even tougher.

-- "Still, Democrats hoped that the uproar would soon die down, and Walsh could soon return to regular campaigning. They likened the scandal to the 2010 Connecticut Senate race, when it was revealed that Richard Blumenthal never served in Vietnam, contradicting his numerous assertions that he did, as well as the 2012 controversy over whether Elizabeth Warren improperly cited having Native American heritage to advance in her academic career. Warren and Blumenthal eventually won those races."
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-- However, this might only be the start of Walsh's problems.The Army War College has launched an inquiry into the plagiarism allegations, the NYT reports: "The United States Army War College determined in a preliminary review on Thursday that Senator John Walsh of Montana appeared to have plagiarized his final paper to earn a master's degree from the institution, and it sent a letter to the senator instructing him that an investigative panel will meet next month to conclusively assess any culpability."
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RYAN TACKLES POVERTY - "Ryan Tries New Tack on Welfare Overhaul," WSJ, A1 below the fold, by Damian Paletta: "Bringing detail to Republican promises to address poverty, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan laid out a plan Thursday for using a conservative approach to reshape food stamps, housing assistance and other federal social programs. ... The plan from Mr. Ryan, the party's leading fiscal architect in the House, reflects an emerging conservative view that could shape legislation if Republicans emerge from the November elections in control of both chambers of Congress.

-- "Many of the elements of Mr. Ryan's 73-page plan lean heavily on consolidating federal social-welfare programs and shifting administrative control to the states. Its centerpiece would create an 'Opportunity Grant' that would lump money for food stamps, housing assistance and other antipoverty programs into one funding stream for states that join the new system."
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HOUSE PANEL OKs VOTE ON LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA - Lauren French reports for POLITICO: "The House Rules Committee approved a resolution Thursday allowing the full House to vote on authorizing a lawsuit against President Barack Obama accusing him of abusing executive authority. The 7-4 vote was split along partisan lines, just as the vote in the full chamber is sure to be. A vote by the whole House to move forward on the legal action is expected next week. The lawsuit has deepened the tension and mistrust between House Republicans and the White House. Republicans say they're simply holding the president accountable for circumventing Congress on a major policy change related to the
implementation of Obamacare. Obama and congressional Democrats have dismissed the suit as little more than election year theater."
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CHAMBLISS' SWAN SONG - Al Kamen and Colby Itkowitz report in WaPo's "In the Loop" column: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss will cap his congressional career with a little pre-retirement jaunt to Europe - courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. Chambliss (R-Ga.) will retire at the end of this term, but before he goes he's taking advantage of one of the top perks of being a member of Congress - the enviable codel, or congressional delegation. His swan-song junket with six of his Senate friends will take them - and spouses - to Belgium, Portugal, Spain and, of course, Italy. ... The male-only group of senators on Codel Chambliss, which includes Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and a token Dem, Sen. Joe Manchin
(D-W.Va.), heads over on the obligatory military jet with staff and escorts at the end of the August recess for some serious fact-finding. And what better time to find those elusive facts than a late-summer excursion to Europe?"
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BENTIVOLIO TO CHAMBER: I DON'T NEED YOUR STINKIN' AWARD - Sean Sullivan for WaPo: Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), "whose primary challenger is backed by the Chamber, issued a hostile statement Thursday announcing that he returned an award the nation's largest business organization gave him. 'The Chamber of Commerce is beholden to special interests and has long since forgotten the main street businesses that struggle everyday to make payroll and keep their company afloat,' said Bentivolio. 'It is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit.'
Bentivolio was one of more than 200 House members who received the Spirit of Enterprise award for supporting 'pro-growth, pro-jobs policies.'"
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THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Joshua Henne of White Horse Strategies was first to correctly answer that two presidents, John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, are interred in the crypt under the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Mass.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Ben Goodman offers another Massachusetts question today: Which future Secretary of Labor once appeared with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Frank Sinatra at a postseason-campaign rally at Fenway Park? The first person to send the correct answer to
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