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12/01/2017 07:53 AM EDT


By Heather Caygle (hcaygle@politico.com or @heatherscope)

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED... The Senate will be in rare session today as Republican leaders scramble to round up enough votes for their tax bill. GOP leaders are looking for a way to placate deficit hawks after the parliamentarian ruled yesterday that a "trigger" to possibly increase tax rates down the road wouldn't pass muster under the strict budget rules Republicans are using to pass their bill. Now Republicans are considering a plan that would start the corporate tax rate at 20 percent with it increasing in stair-step increments over the next several years to offset some costs, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Complicating matters is a report released Thursday by nonpartisan tax scorekeepers showing the tax bill would not "pay for itself" as some Republicans claim but would actually add $1 trillion to the deficit, even with expected economic growth from the plan. The day's events resulted in drama Thursday as GOP leaders worked on the Senate floor to appease Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who were all threatening to tank a procedural vote on the bill. "Essentially he decided to hold court with the rest of the people who are not going to be here," Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said of Corker, reports the Washington Post. "I have no idea what they want. I do
not want a tax increase and I don't want a trigger."

Where things stand: GOP leaders - who initially hoped to vote on final passage yesterday - are eyeing a litany of last-minute changes to the bill that could appease deficit hawks but won't cost them other Republican votes. It won't be easy. "What we're trying to do right now is get to the point where nobody's going to get exactly what they want but enough for us to get the bill passed," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters. Seung Min and Colin Wilhelm with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f363b1557af6b3cc5193b4104a716cf5c8520f07fb0b5cadb00fa430710919d8a243d90a803afe66df

WHO'S POLICING SECRET HARASSMENT PAYOUTS? In the fallout from revelations that Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) secretly used his taxpayer-funded office budget to settle a sexual harassment claim in 2015, one thing is clear: The House appears to have no clear rules on whether Conyers' colleagues can do the same. Now Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) is calling out the secret one-off settlements and pressuring the House Ethics Committee - which has purposefully taken a step back from advising members on such payouts in recent years - to say definitively whether it's allowed.

The ethics panel "currently has no clear position on whether these payments are indeed impermissible," Speier told the committee's leaders in a Thursday letter, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. More from Elana and your Huddle host: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f39880c4e16cc473f7f1fe5274a1f9e83974c34c860470f9f4d908d95b43029b048ecc883c4b492e03

Meanwhile, Democrats from the top down called on Conyers - currently hospitalized due to stress - to resign on Thursday. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged him to step aside Thursday morning with Rep. Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African American lawmaker, and other Democrats quickly doing the same. Pelosi had worked the phones Wednesday night, calling CBC members to let them know her thinking and asking them to relay to Conyers that she would call for his resignation at her weekly press conference Thursday morning unless he willingly stepped down before then. Speaker Paul Ryan echoed Pelosi's call minutes later.

Calls for Conyers to resign sparked a forceful pushback from his lawyer, who questioned why Pelosi and other lawmakers weren't asking the same of Sen. Al Franken. Two more women come forward Thursday to accuse Franken of groping them, bringing his total number of accusers to six. Black lawmakers, while they notably didn't criticize Pelosi or Clyburn, say it's clear Franken isn't getting the same treatment. "I think the chorus of people that are calling for John to resign is noticeably larger than everyone else," CBC Chairman Cedric Richmond (D-La.) told Huddle. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f37404a34d17166615ff5aa3d1bf604aa1f78de3fa12dc9496904fe87d6d3b5a07d7b39bf0fc7447a8

Related: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stays quiet on the latest Franken allegations, CNN's MJ Lee reports. Read more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f38295467310470ebc88b1053f32b38208197bd9d1a222649745885b620299bb318a594289b1693069


** A message from UNITE HERE: Donald Trump's selected candidate to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, is a drug company industry profiteer whose senior role with Eli Lilly during periods of criminal practices and prescription drug price gouging is disqualifying. Learn more about why members of the Senate must #SayNoToAzar. www.saynotoazar.org **

FINALLY FRIDAY, WE MADE IT! Welcome to Dec. 1 and thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Who are you guys rooting for in the SEC championship tomorrow? It's a no win situation if you ask me! Send me your pick: hcaygle@politico.com

THIS SEEMS TO BE GOING WELL - GOP leaders are still struggling to coalesce around a plan to avert a government shutdown with the current funding deadline just a week away. "The latest strategy includes passing two short-term funding bills or 'continuing resolutions' to keep the government running at current levels until a bigger spending deal is reached," Rachael, Seung Min and Kyle report. "House GOP whips told vote-counters in a closed-door meeting Thursday morning that the first would extend government funding from Dec. 8 to Dec. 22; the second would likely last until sometime in January." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f3fa5ce94f6c33d52d4d90111a6e492736aba7c1ad6fe57cd7f6966a72c2b573588d908a4f0071f966

Meanwhile, at the White House: "President Trump has told confidants that a government shutdown could be good for him politically and is focusing on his hard-line immigration stance as a way to win back supporters unhappy with his outreach to Democrats this fall, according to people who have spoken with him recently," Josh Dawsey, Ed O'Keefe and Sean Sullivan report for the Washington Post.

You've got mail: More than two dozen Republicans have signed onto a letter urging Speaker Paul Ryan to include a Dreamer fix in a year-end funding bill, a must if Republicans want to reach a deal with Democrats. "The letter, organized by Virginia Rep. Scott Taylor and Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse, already has signatories numbering in the 20s, according to a source familiar with the letter, and could reach into the 30s by the time it is sent," CNN's Tal Kopan reports. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f32d177df0ded8731059d28d73b365ccc2e2778593ce27cd706e480a52322111693af59a8efcd25422

TRUMP LEANED ON GOP TO END RUSSIA PROBE - Trump repeatedly urged senior Senate Republicans, including Senate Intel Chairman Richard Burr, over the summer to end the panel's investigation into Russian meddling, the New York Times reports. "It was something along the lines of, 'I hope you can conclude this as quickly as possible,'" Burr told the Times. "In addition, according to lawmakers and aides, Mr. Trump told Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and a member of the intelligence committee, to end the investigation swiftly." More from Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman and Alex Burns:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f38b7f2c24559839178727047d3f290e15dde7e4199cfcaf65d331ecb468413a782e1a832c635a8886

SENATE SHUFFLE: IS COTTON NEXT? Sen. Tom Cotton is being eyed by the White House to lead the CIA if Trump decides to nominate current CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. The president, who has personally considered the plan to oust Tillerson, is lunching with Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis today. If Cotton is shuffled over to CIA, the appointment "would cement his meteoric rise in Republican politics, the result of qualities that have taken him, in a matter of years, from freshman congressman to the youngest serving U.S. senator to, potentially, the youngest CIA director in American history: loyalty, brains and raw ambition," Eliana Johnson
and Ali Watkins report. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f3e54c5d83cf820b8fe5aa6101435e4113688a549a746b278d0367e5c32d21082510919166de2ad396

HOUSE MOVES TO VOTE ON GUN BILLS - House Republican leaders are preparing as soon as next week to tee up a vote on a package of gun bills "that would sharply expand concealed-carry rights but also address policies that came into play during two recent mass shootings," Kyle and Bres report. "GOP leaders conducted a full whip count of the plan Thursday and sensed enough support from colleagues to bring up the measure." The package is a combination of three proposals that would expand concealed-carry rights but also revamp the national background check system and address bump stocks, the weapon accessory used in the Las Vegas massacre. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f33b949e1bfa81a2e0504c5cc41fef3e1b944f95076fc34ec433d59c7f9a189cf7e5456cfdf47f6e17

CLOSE BUT NOT TOO CLOSE - Trump, who has all but endorsed Senate candidate Roy Moore will hold a campaign rally near the Alabama state line in Pensacola, Fla., just days before the special Senate election. "At the Dec. 8 rally, advisers said the president is likely to attack national Democrats and may attack [Democratic candidate Doug] Jones. It is unclear if Trump will specifically praise Moore," Josh Dawsey reports for the Washington Post. "Pensacola is in the same media market as Mobile, Ala., which could allow Trump to reach Alabama voters without having to actually travel to the state and specifically rally for Moore." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f38546de1b6d33d8d1b27f8f1a7d98d17e1f96358add0e99b6f6c9d0a1871fad9d93874fb34d214874

Speaker Ryan on the difference between Moore's accusers and Trump's accusers: "I think the Roy Moore - I don't know if - I'm focused on Congress," Ryan told NPR's Steve Inskeep. "Roy Moore is trying to come to Congress. My job here as Speaker of the House is to help make sure that Congress is an institution that we're proud of and that's what I'm focused on." The full interview: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f3b43c32456cce3bebbe2ec23cc95f785cd70edc892c985ba09f352557182ab8395cc568d671ebe740

Related Moore reads: "Can abortion make Roy Moore a senator?" via BuzzFeed's Alexis Levinson. And "Bannon-backed group makes six-figure ad buy in last-minute push for Moore," reports CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

BARTON WON'T SEEK REELECTION - Rep. Joe Barton said Thursday he will retire in 2018 after a nude selfie and explicit messages from the Texas Republican surfaced last week. "There are enough people who lost faith in me that it's time to step aside," Barton told the Dallas Morning News. "The about-face ends a congressional career that spans more than three decades and - until last week - was most noted for his contentious relationship with environmentalists as former chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee." Katie Leslie with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6bf5a3f2ba9829f384df5e95e326afabb64f808c493c5b34224bf07d0a69d4b992a428379f8881f8919944ca06424847

TODAY IN CONGRESS - Hold the phone, the House and the Senate are both in on a Friday y'all! The Senate gavels in at 10 a.m. with two roll call votes on procedural motions related to the tax bill at 11 a.m. Additional votes are likely later in the day. The House meets at 9 a.m. with first and last votes around 10:30 a.m.

THURSDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Dan Cohen was first to correctly guess that Sen. William Blount was expelled in 1797 for his role in a plan to allow the British to invade then-Spanish controlled Florida and Louisiana.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Dan with today's question: This war hero, state attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president was accused and acquitted of treason for actions that led to the failed expulsion of a U.S. senator. Who was the war hero, senator and the senator's counsel in the expulsion trial? Bonus point for prosecution counsel. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: hcaygle@politico.com.

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** A message from UNITE HERE: We've all heard President Trump repeatedly speak about a need to bring drug prices "way down." And 77% of Americans agree that prescription drug costs are unreasonable. Trump also has gone on record saying that drug companies are "getting away with murder" - a point 73% of Americans agree with, saying drug companies make too much profit. Yet, Trump recently nominated drug company executive Alex Azar to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Azar's appointment would contradict Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp" and change Washington D.C.'s pay-to-play atmosphere, where a revolving door shifts federal regulators to high-ranking corporate execs, and
back into government positions. Alex Azar's past as a pharma profiteer disqualifies him from DHHS. To learn more about Azar the Price Gouging Czar, check out this website, including a white paper examining his time at Eli Lilly. www.saynotoazar.org **

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