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By Heather Caygle | 01/19/2017 08:00 AM EDT


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

ONE DAY UNTIL Donald Trump is sworn in as the nation's 45th president. Welcome to Thursday, Jan. 19, Huddle readers.

DEMS LAND PUNCHES, NO KNOCKOUTS - Trump's Cabinet nominees have been in the hot seat on everything from questionable stock trades to lack of knowledge about the departments they want to represent to potentially undocumented employees. While Senate Democrats have managed to land some jabs against his Cabinet picks, there's no sign of the GOP defections needed to tank any of the nominees. "From the top tiers of GOP leadership to rank-and-file committee members, Republicans are fanning out en masse to defend Trump's Cabinet selections," Seung Min, Burgess and Elana report.

"'I'm sure they'll grab for every straw they can to try to delay the confirmation of the president-elect's Cabinet,' Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of Democrats Wednesday. 'Don't get me wrong, I think there needs to be thorough vetting, and people need to answer the hard questions. But delay for delay's sake should be unacceptable.'" More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc08e6e3b3ee0d04db81b19090db1c21fb923491ddacc589256f0a99e29df6ab

NEWS YOU CAN USE - The Senate is on track to confirm only three Cabinet nominees after Trump is sworn-in Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told USA Today Wednesday. That's far fewer than the the seven confirmations McConnell had been saying he hoped to get on the first day. "It's safe to say the Democrats are in a bad mood," McConnell told Mary Troyan. "You can see that in the way the confirmations process is going on in the Senate. We are getting off to kind of a rough start." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc08e6e3b3ee0d04ddf2d2731935d69c39e91821f35ce25b3d5cee3051e98fc7

ON TAP FOR TODAY - Rick Perry will face questions from the Senate Natural Resources Committee in his bid to become the next Energy secretary. Perry, the former governor of Texas, apparently didn't understand quite what the Energy Department did (i.e. overseeing the country's nuclear arsenal) until accepting the offer from Trump, Coral Davenport and David Sanger report for the New York Times. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn will introduce Perry at today's hearing and wrote an op-ed in Roll Call this morning endorsing him for the job. Sen. Joe Manchin will also introduce Perry.

Steve Mnuchin, Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, will face the Senate Finance Committee this morning. Mnuchin is trying to fight back against claims the bank he ran during the financial crisis, OneWest, was a "foreclosure machine," resulting in thousands of people losing their homes. Zachary Warmbrodt previews Mnuchin's testimony: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc08e6e3b3ee0d04f52ca5ad27c8cf1afaabb272eaf874bce18dba87f34fd61a

WALDEN'S NEW ROLE - As head of House Republicans' campaign arm, Rep. Greg Walden spent years galvanizing voters around a single message: repealing Obamacare. Now, as House Energy and Commerce chairman, Walden has a new role: helping replace the healthcare law. In an interview with Rachael and Kyle, his first since taking the E&C gavel, Walden notably used the words "repair" and "rebuild" to describe his approach. Sound familiar? Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was also using the "repair" line, not "replace" as most Republicans have said, recently. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cc08e6e3b3ee0d04602b73f4435ee2f7fd1369ecddbf7f3c90dcbf754138de74

PRICE GRILLED OVER STOCK TRADES - Democrats skewered HHS nominee Tom Price Wednesday over a controversial medical stock purchase made on his behalf while he was also introducing legislation that would impact that company. Price's allies said his broker bought the stock without the lawmaker's knowledge. But it turns out, even if the broker bought the stock without Price knowing, "he did not instruct the broker to sell it after becoming aware of the conflict of interest, even though his agreement with Morgan Stanley explicitly says he would have been able to," Isaac Arnsdorf reports.

Democrats are also demanding an investigation after Price said he purchased another healthcare stock at a discount after learning about the company from New York Rep. Chris Collins, it's largest shareholder, according to the Buffalo News. Collins was recently heard in the Speaker's Lobby bragging during a phone call about making people "millionaires" with stock tips. "It really begs credulity, sir, when you say you did not know you got a discount on this," Sen. Al Franken said at Price's hearing. Isaac with the story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c563238527632f8db7bf8bc100766440e0454ff424f7117b77b989a972ee7303

Price faced a barrage of questions about the GOP's yet-to-be determined plan to replace Obamacare. He stopped short of endorsing Trump's "insurance for everybody" line but also said he wasn't interested in "pulling the rug out" from under the millions of people who would lose health insurance if Republicans dismantle Obamacare without providing a replacement. Adam Cancryn with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c563238527632f8d79e6a3afcaec5e3ffcaf80f8f5309716258e125568abe387

Insurance for everybody? Hill Republicans say not so fast. "It would be wonderful if we could do that. The problem is, is that you can't do it and make overpromises on everything," Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch told CNN. MJ Lee, Phil Mattingly and Manu Raju with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c563238527632f8ddf4f667b40f0d8d92b2c0801e3c0d99817058b22caeed9ad

MAKING THURSDAYS GREAT AGAIN. Thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Burgess and Josh Dawsey's story on Trump's empty Cabinet was the winner.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - There will be no floor activity in the House and Senate today. The Senate will continue with confirmation hearings.

AROUND THE HILL - The Senate Natural Resources Committee holds a confirmation hearing for Energy secretary nominee Rick Perry at 9:30 a.m. The Senate Finance Committee kicks off its confirmation hearing for Treasury secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin at 10 a.m.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer holds a press conference on Trump's Cabinet nominees at 11 a.m. in S-325.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn, Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley, Democratic Caucus Vice Chairwoman Linda Sánchez and Reps. Ben Ray Luján and Debbie Dingell hold a press conference on Republican attempts to repeal Obamacare at 2:30 p.m. in HVC Studio A.

How Salt Lake City's 1990's radical urban planning experiment is paving the path for 2050: In the latest installment of POLITICO Magazine's "What Works," read how a liberal city in a conservative state created a bipartisan alliance of business, industrial, religious, political and civic leaders, who solicited ideas from tens of thousands of Utah citizens that yielded longterm benefits in controlling urban sprawl, traffic congestion, and water conservation. Read More. Photo gallery.

MUM'S THE WORD - Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard won't say who is funding her controversial trip to Syria this week. Her office refused to provide specifics to your Huddle host after the trip was first reported Wednesday, saying only it was approved ahead of time by the House Ethics Committee and she isn't using taxpayer dollars. Gabbard blindsided House leaders, who weren't given the customary heads up that she was going on the trip. Her office also wouldn't say whether she met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. More, with Bres: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c563238527632f8dddf7ae32d82891aeb0d77ebe7d469822c77fd0bf1165ac66

TAG TEAM, BACK AGAIN - Sens. Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren have cemented their status as the Trump resistance force after a "highlight reel-worthy grilling" of Trump's Cabinet picks, Elana writes. The duo has "produced a series of viral moments - tripping up several Cabinet hopefuls with intense questioning that's drawn tens of thousands of online shares and retweets." For example, Warren pressed Tom Price after he refused to swear off future cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, an exchange likely to be in many future attack ads. And Franken caught Betsy DeVos stumbling over a common education policy question in a clip that's been retweeted thousands of times. Elana with more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c563238527632f8df7b67e44a501b22b80e2aee358dff3a36408f9bb2047e44e

ON SECOND THOUGHT - Despite saying earlier this week he was leaning toward voting for secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson, Sen. John McCain now says he's still "very concerned" about the former ExxonMobil CEO's coziness with Russia. "I am very concerned about someone who took a friendship award from Vladimir Putin, who's a butcher. Actually what Vladimir Putin is, he's a KGB agent. That's all," McCain told CBS. Burgess with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d1819b42e6b9115ded1f409940659f17ce48b6501a2d7d674bf1

FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT - Rep. John Lewis wrote to his colleagues this week, thanking them for the "kind words and sentiments" after dozens of members announced they were skipping Trump's inauguration in support of the Georgia Democrat. Lewis also told his colleagues to continue fighting to save Obamacare, despite GOP efforts to dismantle the healthcare law. "I hope you will use the next few days to reflect upon the role we must play within the 115th Congress to strengthen and protect this important legislative achievement," he wrote. CNN's Manu Raju and Theodore Schleifer: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d1819002f961520ef72efb58bb5cf03288400d87ae7ab3ff55ff

-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to weigh in on Trump's attacks against Lewis this week, telling McClatchy he doesn't "speak for the president-elect." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d181041456a479e18051e1a6e9f7a4e03bbf3ca14b1139678187

DON'T WORRY ABOUT WHAT I THINK - EPA administrator nominee Scott Pruitt told senators Wednesday his repeated questioning of climate change is "immaterial" to whether he should lead the environmental agency because he'll be following Congress' guidance anyway. But Sen. Bernie Sanders wasn't buying it: "You are going to be the head of the agency to protect the environment and your personal feelings about whether climate change is caused by human activity and carbon emission is immaterial?" Sanders asked. CNN's Dan Merica and Rene Marsh: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d1814237f5b4518db16928fff819541cefca0b79ed6471702162

Side note: 2016 was the hottest year on record for the third year in a row. The New York Times: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d1817c80dd1c00aee7c5aa700dac38fe9da6409cc8766ed785f9

FEINSTEIN HINTS AT REELECTION - California Sen. Dianne Feinstein hinted she's leaning toward running for reelection during an interview with KQED Wednesday. Feinstein, the oldest senator at 83, recently had a pacemaker installed, further fueling chatter about whether she'd seek another term in 2018. "If I can produce, and I can produce, and I can continue to produce, then I will continue to produce. If I believe I can't, either by health or any other way, I won't, but as long as I believe I can, I will," Feinstein told Scott Shafer. "I'll make it formal at an appropriate time." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d181166d0cc3f1dc8818ae426a07d6c6c4cdb9d8e4b163562b5d

TWEET DU JOUR: @lisamurkowski: It's moving day! Made sure to take special care of my 63-pound king salmon, Walter. See the pic: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d181774f5b9d39ee32a67dd24b536c8c52b20515f926e670b140

MULVANEY'S TAX MISHAP - Rep. Mick Mulvaney, Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget, failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a nanny caring for his triplets, he told senators in his nomination questionnaire. Mulvaney says he has since paid the back taxes. Seung Min: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d181e2e75ca589dd0473b8dd622110ad8858c37c033b62b0e473

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION - With Obama (and his veto threat) soon vacating the White House, Republicans are renewing efforts to gut some of D.C.'s most progressive laws on issues including gun control, abortion rights and physician-assisted suicide. The Washington Post's Aaron Davis and Jenna Portnoy with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=63928a27c2e4d1815a2ad5c291ebf1acd0ab52308f80b2a365af3082f8fd7093

YOU'VE GOT MAIL - More than 170 House Democrats have signed onto a letter to Trump urging the incoming president to oppose GOP plans to repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood. "We urge you to give more thought to how defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing the ACA would harm women in every district in every state," they wrote. The Washington Post's Mike DeBonis: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c4857aadbec46def0ab2a59a1a5c96d43ceeb2f06f2578a5dc0836644517775c

PEREZ TO DEMS: HIT TRUMP WITH '2-BY-4' - Outgoing Labor Secretary and candidate for DNC chairman Tom Perez thinks Democrats should challenge Trump with the same obstruction strategy McConnell used against President Obama, reports Daniel Marans. "'We can hit him between the eyes with a 2-by-4 and treat him like Mitch McConnell treated Barack Obama,' Perez told the audience at The Huffington Post's live Democratic National Committee debate on Wednesday." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=c4857aadbec46def4ae97f0f31e2ef771c2a43728195e89328794286b71ab688

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Justin Arnold was the first to guess that William Howard Taft took the oath of office as president and administered the oath as Supreme Court chief justice.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Justin with today's question: There's no limit to the length of the inaugural speech, as well as no constitutional requirement for it. Name the longest and shortest inaugural speeches, who gave them and in what year. Bonus: How long is Trump's inaugural speech going to be, according to recent reports?

The first person to correctly answer gets a shout-out in tomorrow's Huddle. Send suggestions for trivia questions my way: hcaygle@politico.com

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