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09/17/2015 07:03AM EDT


By Lauren French (lfrench@politico.com & @laurennfrench)

McCarthy & Ryan: Boehner is best choice for speaker. Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Anna Palmer report, "The only two viable potential replacements for John Boehner as speaker of the House say they back the Ohio Republican and will oppose any effort to remove him from power. But other high-ranking Republicans are testing the waters should the embattled speaker be forced out. In a pair of statements to POLITICO, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) forcefully backed Boehner and called for an end to the intraparty warfare crippling the House Republican Conference as it faces a possible government shutdown on Oct. 1. The support from
McCarthy and Ryan represents the most full-throated endorsement of Boehner since a small pocket of conservatives said they were looking to knock him out of the speaker's chair in July. Still, Boehner's tenuous hold on power, exacerbated by conservative demands to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, has set off some jockeying for position in the upper ranks of the House GOP hierarchy should he fall." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbeb015e3925455c550360e7fb3bb274b9915a8d5cb83067d2f

Republicans considering delaying Planned Parenthood fight. Jake Sherman and Rachael Bade report, "With just seven legislative days until the government shuts down, House and Senate Republicans both privately discussed delaying the fight over Planned Parenthood's funding until the budget reconciliation process, according to multiple sources in both meetings. Government funding runs out Sept. 30, and dozens of conservative House Republicans want to use the upcoming legislative debate to cut off federal funding for the women's health group. But in two separate meetings - first, in a Senate GOP lunch Wednesday afternoon, and later during a closed House Republican meeting Wednesday evening -
lawmakers discussed using the fast-track budget reconciliation process instead. That could help avoid a government shutdown, which looms at the end of the month." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbe2068d1320f696fe91da5817d1563ffc5450118cbf5d4259b

Fearsome fiscal cliff looms for Congress. Burgess Everett reports, "Republicans have maneuvered all year to avoid a fiscal cliff in 2015. Now it looks like they're going to get a Denali-sized one. With the nation's borrowing authority set to lapse as early as November, and money to keep the federal government and road construction projects funded increasingly likely to run dry around the same time, the end of 2015 increasingly has the makings of a very unhappy holiday season for Washington.

Indeed, the ongoing inertia of Congress could produce a year-end scramble on those big-ticket items, as well as the looming expiration of billions in tax breaks. That's bad news not just for lawmakers' hopes of an early Thanksgiving break. It's essentially become GOP doctrine that dealing with weighty issues individually rather than in one mega-package yields better results for fiscal conservatives. Tax and fee increases are more likely to be tucked into those grand measures, Republicans say; taking on each piece of legislation discretely offers more time for scrutiny and fewer opportunities to lard up a catch-all measure." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbebd239d704ddfc36a82c317b18c0d5ab2238f41cb7d6dcdbc

It's Thursday, September 17, 2015 and welcome to the Huddle, where we are convinced that two hours is long enough for a debate. You can reach me at lfrench@politico.com or find me on Twitter at @laurennfrench.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - In the House, first votes are expected between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m and last votes are expected between 4:15 and 5:15 p.m. The Senate may have 3 votes at 11 a.m.

AROUND THE HILL - Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will discuss the impact of candy on the U.S. economy during a National Confectioners Association event at the Newseum at 10 a.m. -- Reps. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and Will Hurd (D-Texas) will celebrate Constitution Day and the Millennial Action Project at the National Archives at 7 p.m.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. at the House Triangle to discuss Hispanic Heritage Month. - Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) will discuss criminal justice reform at the Washington Convention Center at 1:30 p.m. - Sens. Dean Heller (R-NV) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) will unveil legislation at 11 p.m. today to repeal the Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac Tax." Rep. Joe Courtney will also speak at the press conference in the Senate Radio & Television Correspondents Gallery.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will hold her weekly press conference at 10:45 a.m. in Studio A. Speaker John Boehner will hold his press avail with Republican leaders at 10 a.m. in the RNC lobby. Rep. McSally will introduce a resolution to honor the female graduates of the Army Ranger School at 1 p.m. in Studio B.

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McConnell loses friends with Iran sanctions bill. Seung Min Kim reports, "Mitch McConnell's latest bare-knuckled tactic on Iran has turned an already tense Senate battle over the nuclear deal with Iran even more bitter. After earlier Republican attempts to scuttle the deal were rebuffed, the Senate majority leader is teeing up one more showdown by forcing votes on a measure that the GOP believes will be a tough ballot for Democrats. The McConnell offering would bar Obama from lifting sanctions against Iran until the country recognizes Israel as a state and releases U.S. citizens now under Iranian custody. But McConnell's move has alienated two powerful Democrats who have otherwise allied
with Republicans on President Barack Obama's controversial nuclear accord. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, and Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said they would oppose McConnell's Iran proposal when it comes up for a vote on Thursday, after voting with the GOP to reject the broader deal in earlier votes." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbe9fdf05d775fb583375d690c0f9179d7bc8bb0d3399c4eaa4

GOP leaders turn to Right to Life to help in funding debate. From the AP, "Hoping to prevent the Republican uproar over the Planned Parenthood videos from snowballing into a government shutdown, GOP leaders are turning to one of Planned Parenthood's most implacable foes: the National Right to Life Committee. Some conservative lawmakers want the GOP-controlled Congress to approve money financing the government only if it also blocks federal payments to Planned Parenthood. Failure to provide funds for agencies would lead to a partial government shutdown on Oct. 1.Though Republican leaders would love to eliminate Planned Parenthood's federal funds, they fear that voters in next year's
elections would blame the GOP if the fight escalated into a federal shutdown. They're trying to placate conservatives with free-standing bills blocking Planned Parenthood's funds and toughening anti-abortion laws, measures that are separate from legislation keeping federal offices open." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbee9546c689732ace149d5596481f423b0ab1caceca2bef526

McClintock leaves House Freedom Caucus. Via your Huddle author, "California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock announced Wednesday he was resigning from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, saying the group's hardball tactics had undermined conservative goals rather than advancing them. The departure comes as the group is locked in a heated battle with Republican leaders about the direction of the party and is threatening to attempt to strip Rep. John Boehner of his speakership. McClintock said frustration with the caucus' forceful tactics on contentious issues brought about his resignation." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbe888a58ce1f51d75363e5476881a8de42160c52e38311f959

TOP SPY: OPM HACKS NOT ON US. Tim Starks reports, "The nation's top counterintelligence official says it wasn't his agency's job to warn the Office of Personnel Management about vulnerabilities in its computer systems before hackers breached millions of its sensitive records - an answer that further frustrated Sen. Ron Wyden. National Counterintelligence Executive William Evanina said in a letter Tuesday that Wyden was looking to the wrong agency for answers to his questions about the OPM breach - namely, whether the National Counterintelligence and Security Center had identified the OPM security clearance database as a vulnerability or made any security recommendations."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=ba87f8972dbeccbe4bfc39eca5a5dba1faa682c1a381b635da48fec94f134f46

The YELP Caucus expands. Brian Fung reports for the Washington Post, "Should people who criticize companies on sites like Yelp be forced to pay exorbitant punitive fees to the firms they review, just because of a small clause buried in the companies' terms and conditions? Some lawmakers don't think so. The head of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee, John Thune (R-S.D.), is expected to introduce a new bill Thursday that targets that practice, along with Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). The legislation, known as the Consumer Review Freedom Act, would ban businesses from bullying their customers as a way of insulating themselves from public criticism."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cfeca87a92d40b08c136496b6ef37cb236cc35793430ddeff101ec6c5630b273

Wednesday'S TRIVIA WINNER. Wyeth Ruthven was the first to answer that it took three years to select Gregory X during a papal election that became the foundation for the church's modern conclave.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - From Wyeth: While the United States and the Holy See have had consular and diplomatic relations at various times since 1797, Congress officially banned the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1867, a law that was not repealed until 1983. Who was the lead sponsor of the repeal legislation? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. E-mail lfrench@politico.com

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says "Sign Up." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=cfeca87a92d40b08a71c0fe13808868a205658650257b6ca383eb6bcd33828ac

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