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06/06/2017 07:45 AM EDT


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

TRUMP HUDDLES WITH GOP LEADERS - President Donald Trump will meet with Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at the White House later this afternoon. Vice President Mike Pence, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn are also expected to attend. The meeting comes as Trump continues to shove several big ticket items - repealing Obamacare, overhauling the tax code, an ambitious infrastructure plan - toward Capitol Hill with little progress to show for it.

Roadblocks ahead: The ongoing investigations into potential Trump campaign ties to Russia are overwhelming the president's agenda, his legislative director told reporters Monday night. "There's no doubt that keeping members focused on investigations detracts from our legislative agenda, detracts from what we're trying to deliver for the American people," said Marc Short, Trump's director of legislative affairs, in a briefing with reporters on Monday night.

And Trump's latest endorsement of a controversial plan to privatize air traffic control, which he backed in a Monday ceremony at the White House, just adds to the already looming legislative pile up on the Hill, Andrew Restuccia and Lauren Gardner report.

Reality check: More than four months into his presidency, Trump has achieved very little on Capitol Hill, Matthew Nussbaum and Bres report. "Obamacare is still the law of the land, funding for a border wall with Mexico is bogged down in partisan fighting, Trump's budget proposal was dead on arrival, and the White House is way behind schedule on sending executive-branch nominees to the Senate for consideration." And now the White House says it wants health care finished by this summer, a tax reform bill introduced after Labor Day and is even hinting at a possible shutdown fight come fall. Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d2876b713498e8fb2e6cd643d9e9c584365ee01f58eee8c979c98fe5de944e46527ca17254ce1f360626a

MEET ME AT THE CROSSROADS - Senate GOP leaders are pushing their members to make a decision on repealing Obamacare, hoping to vote on the issue before the Fourth of July recess. McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republican leaders still hope to tackle tax reform this year and don't want to spend the next six months debating the health care law instead. McConnell will present a repeal blueprint to his members at lunch later today but some big questions (like how to tackle Obamacare's Medicaid expansion) still remain.

"I don't think this gets better over time," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of leadership. "So my personal view is we've got until now and the Fourth of July to decide if the votes are there or not. And I hope they are." GOP leaders could unveil a draft repeal bill by the end of this week. Jen Haberkorn and Burgess with the latest: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d2876cb7378a4ceee7a46a2b7b81451cdb44dc17fa496bd2c23a2039fd958074d1676acceec889c0631a6

Greek Chorus: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday joined a cadre of other Republicans who are now openly saying they don't think an Obamacare repeal is going to happen this year. "I just don't think we put it together among ourselves," Graham told reporters Monday. "I've always believed, let Obamacare collapse, which it will and challenge the Democrats to help us fix it."

Related: The 13 senators to watch on the health care debate, via Roll Call's Joe Williams and Ryan Kelly: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d2876e7ffdef0c48a72acf6aed13001ec672fe5226fbcc8d29c1b5da331985dcf9de982be9f65a33f8cbc

WHITE HOUSE WON'T BLOCK COMEY - Former FBI Director James Comey is expected to "talk in detail" about his conversations with Trump when he testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee Thursday, CNN reports. Comey, though, is not expected to divulge information about the ongoing Russia investigation, according to Intel Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.). The White House announced Monday it won't use executive privilege to try to block Comey from testifying.

DUDE, WHERE'S MY FRIDAY? Welcome to Tuesday, June 6 and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

MONDAY'S MOST READ: Kyle and Austin's story previewing the Senate Intel hearing with Comey was the winner.

WHITE HOUSE STALLS ITS NOMINEES - Trump spent part of Monday lashing out at Democrats for stalling his nominees. But as Seung Min reports this morning, it's actually his own administration that's frequently holding up the necessary paperwork. "At least 17 of Trump's nominees took more than a month to be officially sent to the Senate, at which point the vetting by senators and aides can begin in earnest, according to a POLITICO analysis," SMK writes. "It's unclear exactly why the Trump White House has been so slow to officially submit some nominees' paperwork, but it comes amid broader struggles by the new president to vet senior officials and staff his administration." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d2876c18e70ebdc6edae2c3637b2ec255d6c66b6c5e675687842f7977a69d8d3c9a0d0934c6f9c1d54d20

RYAN RAMPS UP FUNDRAISING - Speaker Paul Ryan raised $22 million for House Republicans in the first five months of this year, far outpacing the $16.5 million he raised in the same period last year. Rachael with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d2876bdf31f781ef9e7e7049c6acb09a9ca6decdf747ddfb2ab2431362f97560553b6f0e02a13af25195b

** A message from Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America: America's wine and spirits wholesalers deliver the widest array of products available anywhere, collect billions in taxes, ensure product integrity and oppose underage access. While WSWA is neutral on marijuana legalization, we support regulation of socially sensitive products. Congress should continue to support programs to address drug impaired driving. **

DEMS DEMAND TRUMP HOTEL RECORDS - House Oversight Democrats are intensifying their demands for various records related to the Trump Hotel in Washington, invoking an obscure 1928 law in a Monday letter that allows any seven members of the panel to request information from the administration. The letter comes after reports last week of a Trump administration directive instructing federal agencies to ignore oversight requests from Democrats. Josh Gerstein with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d28765142c23e0022321ff2ae526a66a929509735cd583b7dd93ec97574aa98ef6bd4066e2b67d39d5338

COMING ATTRACTIONS - McConnell has teed up a Senate vote this week on an Iran sanctions bill that has bipartisan support. But the bill could be used as a vehicle by senators looking to debate sanctions on Russia for meddling in the election last year or by others, like Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who want to force a vote on a resolution blocking Trump's weapons deal with Saudi Arabia, Elana reports.

MONEY BALL - Democrats have come within single digits of winning House districts in deep-red parts of Montana and Kansas this year. But with the Georgia special election right around the corner, Republicans are still outspending them by millions of dollars, sparking an intraparty battle on the left about who should be pitching in to make up the difference and when. "I think for a lot of the Democratic big donors that we have, it's hard to get them to write a $250,000 or a $500,000 check for one House seat in the off year in a district that is very uphill," one fundraiser told the Washington Post. Mike DeBonis and David Weigel: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d28765b2a9cc2a666cbaad5fe7e5ed3c1daa5755210ee2a7d3e54f61fcc5c80265b101fd21842e0334639

RUNOFF TO REPLACE BECERRA TODAY - Voters in L.A. head to the polls today to decide who will replace former Rep. Xavier Becerra, now the state's attorney general. Becerra and other establishment Democrats have backed Jimmy Gomez, a member of the California State Assembly. Gomez is facing off against Robert Lee Ahn, a former city planning commissioner. The L.A. Times: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d287679c573512ad1fd00c00b7a170d584283f66e01fee7d9a7ccf4ce4fd8eb77da5b55aaccf9bb9bbc4e

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding a kickoff rally in Washington Square Park today in an effort to help Democrats take back the House in 2018, the Daily News reports. New York Republicans who could be targeted between now and 2018: Reps. John Faso, Claudia Tenney, Elise Stefanik, Chris Collins, Lee Zeldin and Peter King. Kenneth Lovett reports: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d28763f7a0c21f784bbf83021ba7572084d67fc23f10a015e7339f124e144f1ab38e2d76af2594160974d

OFF MESSAGE PODCAST - Donald Trump has a staffing problem. And that's slowing operations and brewing complaints even among his closest allies including Linda McMahon, his appointed Small Business Administrator. McMahon, a close friend and ally of Donald Trump who is best known for her wrestling business-turned-empire WWE, sits down with Isaac Dovere in this week's Off Message podcast. Listen and subscribe: iTunes | Panoply | Stitcher

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 10 a.m. with party lunches from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. The chamber will vote on the nomination of Courtney Elwood, nominee to be the CIA's general counsel, at 2:15 p.m. The House meets at 12 p.m. with votes at 6:30 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d28762587fe3a513f284a45659baec1fcc9418627ccb8882e76d6da35f52f34a4f03b1edd214e3668d6cb

AROUND THE HILL - Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) hold a 10:30 a.m. press conference in the Senate studio on tax breaks in the House GOP plan to repeal Obamacare.

Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Wyden and Van Hollen hold an 11:30 a.m. press conference in the Senate swamp on potential GOP cuts to Medicaid.

Vice President Mike Pence will huddle with Senate Republicans during their weekly lunch starting at 12:30 p.m. Pence and President Trump will meet with House and Senate GOP leaders at 3 p.m. at the White House.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), and Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) will have dinner with Trump at 6:30 p.m. at the White House.

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Theodore Merkel was the first to guess that Ben Franklin appears above the doorway of the former Committee on Post Offices, the room now used by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Architect of the Capitol blog has a great rundown of all the other places Franklin pops up around the Hill: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=7a1a9e23651d28768161d3b0fd58ed9466767be976735005b580e96dbd18362b00c3912f843af58108bc90cfba3d46fa

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Theodore with today's question: In 2013, then-Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus opened a hearing with an ode to this former Treasury secretary. This person, who at one point was removed from his Senate seat by his colleagues, is credited with the amendment to make Ways and Means a permanent committee and was implicated for his role in an insurrection against the U.S. government. Who is this person? Send answers my way: hcaygle@politico.com

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** A message from Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America: While neutral on the issue of legalization, WSWA believes states that legalize marijuana need to enact effective regulations to protect the public from the dangers associated with marijuana impairment. The beverage industry's regulatory structure provides a model of effective regulation that has earned an eight decade record of success guaranteeing product integrity and public safety.

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