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03/14/2017 07:56 AM EDT


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

With an assist from Daniel Lippman

Welcome to the first (and probably last) snow day of the season. Federal agencies are operating on a three-hour delay, according to OPM.

IS CHANGE COMIN' ROUND THE BEND? The White House is signaling openness to backing "significant" changes to the Obamacare repeal to help bring reluctant conservatives on board following a weekend meeting between chief strategist Steve Bannon and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows. Potential changes include phasing out the Medicaid expansion quicker, possibly the beginning of 2018, Josh Dawsey, Rachael and Tara Palmeri report.

But the shift comes at an odd time - the CBO score released Monday estimates 24 million people would lose their health insurance over the next decade (including 14 million next year alone) if the GOP repeal is enacted. Moderates are already on edge by the CBO report and any move to push the bill further right is sure to spook them even more. Read: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a7437237fcf87bcd01a30aae62d7528a19ef21a3b3a32d7653d607c4b63f0ab7c93cb901ce8d3f1cb72

DAMAGE CONTROL STARTS NOW - GOP leaders immediately plunged into damage control Monday afternoon after both Republican and Democratic critics of the House repeal plan pounced on the CBO estimate. "Can't sugarcoat it. Doesn't look good," GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said bluntly. "The CBO score was, shall we say, an eye-popper."

In short, the repeal could significantly hurt older and poorer Americans. That's exactly what moderates in the House and Senate, especially whose states have embraced the Medicaid expansion, didn't want to hear. "We've got work to do here," said Colorado GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, whose state expanded Medicaid. "The House is going to continue to work on the bill to try and build support for it. But until they do, there's not much for the Senate to do," Sen. John Cornyn said. Kyle, Burgess, and Rachael: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a7495a2968dd57140b573afe64f4c3ff8f26ff14f5eac58fc6dce3e649ad63d6be6ec9e6a204083af16

The view from the rank-and-file: Virginia GOP Rep. Rob Wittman said after seeing the CBO score, he's voting against the House repeal plan. And GOP Rep. Mark Amodei said "quite frankly it looks right now that Nancy Pelosi was much more efficient" on health care process, reports Riley Snyder with the Nevada Independent.

-\_(\u30c4)_/-, GOP SAYS - So how do Republicans feel about the CBO score? Well, depends on whom you ask. House Speaker Paul Ryan pointed to the CBO's rosier predictions, including that the bill would reduce the deficit and lower premiums over a decade. But HHS Secretary Tom Price said the administration "strenuously" disagrees with the nonpartisan budget office, adding its "virtually impossible" for the agency to make an accurate prediction on this.

But that's not all, folks: The White House may have trashed the CBO score but its own internal estimate, viewed by POLITICO, "forecast that 26 million people would lose coverage over the next decade, versus the 24 million CBO estimate - a finding that undermines White House efforts to discredit the forecasts from the nonpartisan CBO." Paul Demko with the scoop: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a7428ee03bb211fd6a8424ec41b22a8fc69b6a91ed9733f1db36080d416a2b8a26ae144e74e672dff11

'NOT NOW, NOT IN THE FUTURE' - Breitbart has released audio of Speaker Ryan telling his GOP colleagues in October he will not defend Trump, "not now, not in the future." Ryan's remarks came on the GOP conference call after release of the Access Hollywood tape of Trump talking about grabbing women by their genitals. Ryan's decision to stop defending Trump was reported at the time (and things have obviously changed since then) but the fact that the audio is being released now shows knives are out for his Obamacare repeal plan.

GORSUCH GOT GAME - Since Neil Gorsuch was introduced to the world less than two months ago, Democrats have barely been able to land a punch on President Trump's conservative Supreme Court nominee. But as Seung Min and Burgess report, it's unclear if they even want to. "Some Democrats are privately beginning to believe that Gorsuch - barring a blunder at his Senate confirmation hearings next week - will clinch the 60 votes he needs to be approved without a filibuster."

Red-state Democrats could face political retribution from the right or the left, depending on how they vote. "I understand the Democrats being so upset," moderate Sen. Joe Manchin said. "That doesn't make it right to go along with eight. [justices]. If you think [Republicans] are going to give you a center-left [judge], they're not! Come to grips with it." But Democratic leaders insist they're just getting started on the Gorsuch fight. "We're strategizing," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. "We're just not telling you." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a746fd60a78b134317d66145eab0a188833b8a8a7a1121cd1395a0062b81699c06d9c65e2c14aa529cd

HAPPY PI DAY Y'ALL! Welcome to 3.14 and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Huddle's favorite pizza: pepperoni, black olives and pineapple. Yum!

MONDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Burgess' story about Sen. Dean Heller panning the House Obamacare repeal brought the big clicks

BIPARTISAN BROS HIT THE ROAD - Because of messed up flights due to the storm,
Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) are renting a car (we hear it's a Chevy Impala) this morning in San Antonio and driving back to D.C. in a marathon 24-hour trip. They will livestream as much of the trip as they can and take questions from their Facebook and Periscope accounts in a countrywide town hall. Pic of them in front of their rental this a.m. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a74ba32d1beecbf2428c3448e3348560db169082b89c96dcbd760bdaf3b3d5fd45e28af1171edec8e81 Wonder who gets to control the radio...

(NOT) ALWAYS ON TIME - The Justice Department is asking House Intel leaders for more time to respond to a request about Trump's wiretapping claims. DOJ was supposed to respond by Monday to the request, which asked for information including Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications that would indicate if surveillance was conducted on Trump or his aides during the campaign. DOJ now has until the March 20 hearing to comply. Austin with more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a744ee7d2b21254bf3415dfd21efad78a4006c568190f6d5a123bea27e1324a984bef05ae3f17ac8919

-Related: White House back-pedals wiretapping claims, via the Wall Street Journal: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a74d883101f9724ce722e13fe5a257d18ceeffffbc3065a85ab742f023917b8621b35c3a4ab3d430a57

KING CRITICISM MOUNTS - Rep. Steve King is being blasted by both Democrats and Republicans after doubling down on his comments about not being able to advance America with "somebody else's babies." The Des Moines Register said Iowans should vote King out of office in an editorial. "Elected officials can't be expected to respond to everything @SteveKingIA says, but we are better than this. Those comments were awful," GOP Sen. Jeff Flake tweeted. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Speaker Ryan to boot King from the House Judiciary subcommittee he leads.

"I'd like to think that he misspoke and it wasn't really meant the way that that sounds," Ryan said on Fox Monday, despite King having a history of making inflammatory and racist comments. King then went on Tucker Carlson and said he "didn't misspeak at all. I said exactly what I meant."

HOW THE ATTORNEY PURGE COULD HAUNT THE GOP - Remember all those Obama-era U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign en masse last week? Well now some are being eyed for potential 2018 runs, Daniel Strauss reports. More than 40 U.S. attorneys including New York's Preet Bharara, were let go last week, "an act that suddenly flooded the political marketplace with experienced federal prosecutors of the sort both parties love to tap to run for high office." "They come with a lot of advantages," said former DCCC political director Ian Russell. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a7464d6bdd9c05ef5ce3bc2cd34ef17229e817ab4434dc7771a944b39e8de41789c506b6a5b6fcb69a9

FOR YOUR RADAR - House Democrats will meet with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly Friday. This is the first caucus confab with a Trump Cabinet secretary and comes after some Democrats were booted from a meeting with top immigration officials last month. Your Huddle host with the scoop: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=aa1f13b1724d6a7410672e877be207c8349f9ed3d2d106ed0995a71535a5fd7366695891a25bfa0c79dd17da0e021f4c

CONDOLENCES TO REP. RUSH - Huddle would like to offer our deepest sympathies to Rep. Bobby Rush, whose wife Carolyn died of congestive heart failure Monday at a Chicago hospital. "Today I have lost my best friend, the love of my life, my confidant and my best half," Rush, who was by her bedside, said in a statement. The two were married for 36 years with a blended family of seven kids and 11 grandkids.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS - Joseph Lindblad, legislative correspondent for Sen. Gary Peters, has a new gig on the Homeland Security's federal spending oversight panel. Josh Fendrick is being promoted to LC for Peters.

SPOTTED: House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer with his police escort boarding the Acela from N.Y. headed to D.C early Monday. He was later seen ordering food in the café.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate meets at 2 p.m. with a vote possible later on disapproving a Labor Department rule related to drug testing for unemployment compensation applicants. The House canceled votes due to the snowstorm.

AROUND THE HILL - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Maggie Hassan hold a press event at 10 a.m. in HVC-215 to mark the end of a two-month long Obamacare bus tour.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. John Sarbanes hold a press call on Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch's views on political spending at 10:30 a.m. For dial-in information, RSVP to press@whitehouse.senate.gov. Schumer and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Patty Murray, Bernie Sanders, Heidi Heitkamp and Tammy Duckworth introduce their paid family and medical leave bill during an 11:45 a.m. press conference in the Senate studio.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer holds his weekly pen and pad at 12 p.m. in H-144. Vice President Mike Pence lunches with Senate Republicans at 12:45 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy talk to President Trump about the repeal bill via telephone at 4 p.m.

Postponed: The White House bowling date with the House Freedom Caucus, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed due to the winter storm.

MONDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Jack Giesea was the first to guess that both former Sen. Tom Harkin and Arnold Schwarzenegger made cameos in the film Dave. Harkin was the mostly recently retired lawmaker to appear in the film and Schwarzenegger went on to become governor of California.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Jack with today's question: Al Franken famously eked out a win in his first campaign for U.S. Senate in 2008, winning by 312 votes after the final recount. However, the 1964 election cycle yielded an even closer result, 48 votes. Name the state and the candidates of the race.

The first person to correctly answer gets a shout out in tomorrow's Huddle. And don't forget, send suggestions for trivia questions my way: hcaygle@politico.com

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