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09/12/2016 07:47 AM EDT


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

With assistance from Daniel Lippman

THE WEEK AHEAD: Congressional leaders head to the White House this afternoon to meet with President Obama about a short-term spending bill and Zika funding. The Senate is planning to move a bill this week that funds the government into mid-December and likely includes some funding to address the health crisis. The most optimistic optimists predict senators will wrap up work on the proposal this week and get out of town early, giving members more time to campaign.

Meanwhile, the House GOP took a step Friday toward consensus on what kind of stopgap its members would support. In short, most members are coming around to the idea of a short-term bill that goes into the lame duck, but are pushing for a couple of policy riders to sweeten the deal (with the House Freedom Caucus being a very notable exception). "Because Senate Republicans have caved, really the only likely path forward is a short-term CR. If that's the case, let's try to get something we want," RSC Chairman Bill Flores told reporters Friday. Rachael Bade and Ben Weyl take you inside the meeting: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995ef2eed62737682048e0569079b7155bc460f64c4bc9e5e05

And don't forget about Koskinen... The House Freedom Caucus could try to force a vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen this week, just hours after the GOP caucus is supposed to meet to talk about the issue. Roll Call's Lindsey McPherson: HFC member "John Fleming told reporters Friday that he plans to go to the floor Tuesday to set up a vote on a resolution" to impeach Koskinen, starting a two-day clock for the House to act, "meaning a floor vote on impeachment would occur no later than Thursday."

"The GOP conference is scheduled to meet next Thursday to discuss the IRS impeachment resolution, likely providing only a matter of hours between an internal debate about the matter and a public vote. Fleming said the conference meeting 'doesn't matter' because there will be a vote regardless and that members should vote their conscience." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995d21fce6ee01d05bfc7a1831b747ec2ed73f5bf8483537a75

RSC RACE HEATS UP AHEAD OF FOUNDER'S MEETING- The race to replace Rep. Bill Flores at the helm of the conservative Republican Study Committee is heating up, with at least three members telling Huddle they plan to meet with the group's leaders Tuesday. Rachael and I reported last week that multiple House Freedom Caucus members were mulling a bid and meeting with the group's founders is a significant step in that direction.

Freshman Rep. Mark Walker was already planning on attending tomorrow's founder's meeting, having announced his candidacy for RSC chairman last week. Reps. Mark Meadows and Andy Harris, both members of the House Freedom Caucus, told Huddle they plan to sit down with RSC leaders too.

So what's next? Neither Meadows nor Harris have officially declared their candidacy. "I'm seriously interested," Harris told Huddle, "but I'm waiting until that meeting." And Flores, who said a lawmaker doesn't have to officially run for RSC chairman before interviewing with the founders, said more candidates could crop up. "There are a couple of more [members] that asked me about it but I'm not saying anything unless somebody's publicly said something already," Flores said Friday.

The group's leaders (which includes Flores and all former RSC chairmen who are still in Congress) interview potential candidates tomorrow but the caucus doesn't actually vote until mid-November, after the general election. And, current RSC members must renew their membership prior to voting for a new chairman. Walker, who has been laying the groundwork for a run for months, told Huddle he's talked to about 80 of the 178 RSC members so far and said he's gotten confirmation of support from about two-thirds of those lawmakers.

DEMOCRATS WANT CLINTON'S FOCUS ON SENATE- With Hillary Clinton increasingly focused on four key battleground states-Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina-some Democrats are worried that might spell trouble for the other states where they're hoping to score Senate wins. Gabriel Debenedetti: "Democrats' fight for Senate control is dicey enough that both Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his expected successor, Chuck Schumer, have been directly urging the nominee's campaign to start piling more resources into the battle for control of the chamber." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995a2416b65a4ef2a85cee82f20dc478e1ca7fe16a71fb3bfe4

Related: Clinton canceled a plan trip to California this week after she stumbled at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony Sunday, prompting her campaign to announce she'd been privately battling pneumonia. USA Today: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a199521091e3b6f1ba685247b17ac89f9956ac18189a322e93bac

YES, THE WEEKEND'S REALLY OVER. Welcome to Monday, Sept. 12. You're reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill.

TODAY IN CONGRESS- The House convenes at 12 p.m. with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. The Senate gavels in at 3 p.m. with a roll call vote related to the water infrastructure bill at 5:30 p.m.

** A message from United for Medical Research: America's investment in medical research - through the National Institutes of Health - is making amazing things possible. This week, United for Medical Research proudly launches a new podcast series, Amazing Things, that tells the stories of NIH-funded research on the cusp of changing lives and saving healthcare dollars. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a19958444d911ede79bc85e72852b73e5b8c9c4c4201d1e68999d **

AROUND THE HILL- House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid meet with President Obama at the White House at 4 p.m.

SAY A LITTLE PRAYER FOR ME- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had a request for Kentucky GOP donors over the weekend: Pray for us. "'So when you say your prayers at night, not only pray for a Republican president who will take us in a different direction, but for a continued Republican majority in the U.S. Senate that will help our new president,'" McConnell told attendees of the annual Lincoln Dinner, reports the AP. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995ef15500926603c9a6e6468ff51cc670b9c742649ffb64d47

HOUSE BATTLEGROUND MAP EXPANDS FOR DEMS- With Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket, Democrats are feeling bullish in House districts that have been in Republican hands for years. "Longtime GOP strongholds like Orange County, Calif. and suburbs of Orlando, Minneapolis, Kansas City, look set to have competitive House races for the first time in decades," reports Theodoric Meyer.

"The question for House Democrats is whether enough new diverse and high-education districts are on the map this year for them to leverage Trump into a serious challenge for the 30 seats they need." Theo crunches the data: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a19951047d2f5bde83e6423940b4adad832b9a7d8ba3dfacd2c60

STANDOFF OVER ISRAEL AID- The Obama administration has negotiated a new military aid package with Israel that it's just itching to announce, bumping support for the country up to $3.3 billion annually starting in 2018. The problem? Officials are afraid Sen. Lindsey Graham, who marked up a bill to give Israel more money, might try to undermine the deal, reports the Washington Post's Josh Rogin.

'Go F themselves': "The Israeli prime minister told me the administration is refusing to sign the MOU until I agree to change my appropriation markup back to $3.1 billion," Graham said. "I said, 'Tell the administration to go F themselves.'" More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a19957c8f91ea62313968d73b57653344b32f1c1569d6e813ddef

PORTMAN UP 11 POINTS IN OHIO- Sen. Rob Portman has pulled way ahead of challenger Ted Strickland in the Ohio Senate race, posting an 11-point lead in a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday, and Democrats have taken notice. "At a private meeting this week before a trade association in Washington, Tom Lopach, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, did not list the Ohio race as among the top eight races Democrats are focusing on," reports Jack Torry and Randy Ludlow for the Columbus Dispatch.

Clutch quote: "When asked how Ohio could not be among the likely states for Democrats to win, Lopach reportedly replied, 'Portman has run a damn fine race,' adding, 'The rest, I'll have to tell you over a drink.'" More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a19958cbb297a34968b57c86c0c59fe916de8a5c167160446d2b7

More signs of trouble for Strickland: "The former Ohio governor is canceling ads in Southwest Ohio in the Cincinnati and Dayton markets and shifting them toward the more Democratic areas of Columbus and Cleveland, according to sources familiar with the media buy," report Burgess Everett and Seung Min Kim. This comes after the DSCC and Senate Majority Pac both pulled back in the state. Their story: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995127a1be5f1ec4934e6ac63f830adaf45adcb0d0748edf232

OTHER GOOD NEWS FOR REPUBLICANS: GOP Senate candidates are also ahead in Florida, with Sen. Marco Rubio polling 7 points ahead of Rep. Patrick Murphy (50-43) and North Carolina with Sen. Richard Burr polling 6 points ahead of challenger Deborah Ross (49-43). Full release: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995fbce2adc07667db6bd4176bce59d078b8506a8b7a90e234a

A new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released over the weekend also has Republicans up in several states. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte leads Gov. Maggie Hassan 52 percent to 44 percent and shows Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain and Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson posting sizeable leads over their Democratic opponents. Janet Hook with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a199533a37adead5765dbcec7b764ecdb07654db6900715ccad96

WHAT HAPPENED TO DEMOCRATS ON TRADE? "One of the most startling developments of this most peculiar campaign season has been the emergence of trade as an electrifying political issue. ... Precious few Americans had even heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership a year ago. Now, opposition to the deal is driving populists on both the left and right," writes Thomas Frank for POLITICO Magazine. "We're discovering that the consensus on trade was always something of a Washington illusion." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995d09a45b8c009805a8be1f8582881bf494d730a1d4a634d5c

YOUR MOVE, WHITE HOUSE- The House unanimously passed a bill Friday giving the okay for families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, legislation that's strongly opposed by the White House and almost certain to be vetoed. But with both the House and Senate passing the bill without objection, lawmakers have shown they have more than enough support to override Obama's veto, the first potential override of his presidency. My story with Bres: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a19952a21129a14e06cab148b680d9baf8a63fdb35b9b1f276e69

HAPPENING AROUND THE HILL- Barbara Riley is starting today as the communications director/press secretary for the American Forest and Paper Association in DC; she previously worked as communications director for Rep. Ander Crenshaw. Kaylin Minton has been named press secretary for Sen. Jim Risch; she was communications director for Rep. Scott Rigell.

Weekend Weddings: Matthew Klapper, chief of staff to Sen. Cory Booker, married Victoria Edelman over the weekend. Booker participated in the ceremony, according to the New York Times. "The couple were introduced in April 2013 through JDate, after Mr. Klapper's platoon at his firehouse signed him up as a Hanukkah gift." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995ade5a793f132a29537cc746d89007a32ab92fc5cb60fd022

--Abigail Marshak and Phillip Rudd: "Ms. Marshak, 29 ... is a trial lawyer in Washington for the housing and civil enforcement section of the civil rights division of the Justice Department. ... Mr. Rudd, 32, is a legislative assistant in Washington to the Democratic staff of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995f34b74677721c02864b62c8ec26ff195a5429bea5db4f0e0

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER- Ryan McDevitt was the first to correctly guess that the U.S. was known as the united colonies until the Declaration of Independence.

TODAY'S TRIVIA- Ryan with today's question: Which current congressman's son-in-law to be was an NCAA basketball Wooden Award finalist this past year? Bonus: Name the player and his current team. The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in tomorrow's Huddle. Get at me: hcaygle@politico.com

GET HUDDLE emailed to your phone each morning.

** A message from United for Medical Research: The greatest returns on the federal government's investment in the National Institutes of Health are discoveries that lead to improved health, longer lives and the ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Without question, NIH-funded research is making the impossible possible. Listen to the Amazing Things podcast with Boston University's Ed Damiano and learn about a bionic pancreas that stands to dramatically change the lives of people living with type 1 diabetes. NIH funding: Because America's investment in medical research is making amazing things possible. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=93d93c581c1a1995774468a7f0a22198c35e683fc0f8d873a66d78aa8c8a5100 **

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