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05/16/2016 07:17 AM EDT


By Burgess Everett (@burgessev or beverett@politico.com)

PREPARING FOR TRUMP: Most congressional Democrats across the ideological spectrum are backing Hillary Clinton -- but some of them are also preparing to work with Donald Trump. Party leaders have warned Democrats not to underestimate the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and for some senators, that means being open to working with Trump should he win. It's not just preparing for him to win the presidency; he also may lose the election but win some of their home states. "The people will have a chance to vote. If Donald Trump is elected president there will be a great opportunity to sit down and have a conversation about what that agenda looks like," explained Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.),
who has long backed Hillary Clinton. "If he's president, we're going to have disagreement. But we'd better all figure out how to come up with an agenda for the American people."

Where the votes run red: Conservative states like North Dakota, West Virginia and Montana are places where Democratic senators will likely see Trump win this fall -- and then have to go face those voters in two years. DSCC Chairman Jon Tester of Montana acknowledges that there are "for sure" things he can come together with Trump on, "as long as they're good deals for America." "This place doesn't work very well unless you're able to work with folks. So I would hope so. I mean he's got some pretty goofy opinions, but hopefully we've got some stuff we can work on," Tester said. Added West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin of working with Trump: "What you see in the campaign and if he would be
elected at that level, what you're going to see is a little different ... He didn't get to where he got to by making a lot of bad deals." My story with SMK this morning: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee56c654232c5a17539488cdfee99e2b1a90806af7f9225598

Not even going there: This Harry Reid quote about whether his party could work with Trump deserves its own blurb. "I can't even discuss such a disgusting idea, OK? No. You're saying if he's elected president? Oh, I'm not going to talk about that. I can't imagine something so horrible."

BOEHNER'S BARNSTORMING SUMMER - "Lucifer in the flesh" isn't the last we've heard of former House Speaker John Boehner. Boehner will travel the country this summer in July and August to help raise money for House Republicans, reprising his role as one of the party's chief money men, per Jake Sherman. "It's not something he has to do anymore - but he likes doing it, and there's still a demand for it, so why not keep doing it? It's just a part of who he is," said longtime aide David Schnittger. http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092eef479c5b264620d0aae945c8eb0e19358f5fe370baf05cc84

SASSE GETS SASSED: Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse's #NeverTrump thing isn't going over so well with his state's GOP faithful, who overwhelmingly passed a resolution opposing his call's for a third-party alternative to Trump and Clinton. "The resolution had the potential to make things a little awkward between Sasse and Nebraska's senior U.S. senator, Deb Fischer. It was introduced by her nephew, Sam Fischer. Sam Fischer is a longtime Republican political consultant in Omaha who has been around politics as long as, if not longer than, Deb Fischer. He said his aunt had no input into the resolution." Omaha World-Herald: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092eef93e94e72f2580503f1a897888c45046c83ac5c9d5b2cf8c

VEEP WATCH - Sunday Sessions: Alabama senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's first senatorial endorsement, is not saying no to the running mate slot. Here's Sessions on This Week: "Well, I don't expect to be asked. He needs to get the best person who can lead this country. But you saying would I be ashamed or unwilling to serve this man? No. It would be a great honor to be able to assist him in any way possible."

Sunday Sherrod: Would Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown run with Hillary? "I love the job I'm doing ... I will put real effort into electing Hillary Clinton, but as I said, I love this job," he said on CNN. Also not a no.

Here's to another wacky week in Washington. And welcome to the Huddle, your play-by-play guide to everything Capitol Hill, where you are the only person that's in a hurry. Please send tips to beverett@politico.com and follow along on Twitter @burgessev.

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House is in at noon and will votes on a bunch of suspenions (available here: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee09ca0f3f88266d6bcfd18a126483b9ff38456447c11f1b7f at 6:30 p.m. The Senate is in at 2 p.m. and will vote at 5:30 p.m. on confirming Paula Xinis to a be a district judge in Maryland.

AROUND THE HILL - At 5 p.m., House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and House Democrats will host a screening of a "Hug from Paul Ryan" in 2456 Rayburn.


** A message from American Society of Anesthesiologists(R): Removing physician anesthesiologists from Veterans' surgical teams would "directly compromise patient safety and limit our ability to provide quality care to Veterans." Over 200 VA Chiefs of Anesthesiology and physician anesthesiologists, October 2015. Protect Safe VA Care. Vets earned it and deserve it. Visit www.safevacare.org. **

DAILY SCOTUS -- Garland gets a little help from friends: Unable to get Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland a hearing from the Senate GOP, Democrats will hold a forum Wednesday featuring a bunch of Garland's legal colleagues who will lay out his credentials. The event "will also give Garland a bit of public defense, particularly when the judge has been battered by millions of dollars' worth of ads from a conservative group painting him as a gun-rights opponent and a fan of government regulations. Democrats have been especially frustrated that Garland, who's had to stay mostly quiet as he's been making the one-on-one rounds with senators and dutifully filling out his nominee questionnaire,
isn't getting the chance to publicly speak on his own behalf." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee3e7e17b86898f99d2ebf1d788c95ec5f7afc20f2a99e961b

Mark the calendar: Garland will also speak at alma mater Niles West High School in Skokie (Chicagoland) on May 29.

BENGHAZI BATTLE: A former lawyer to the committee on Benghazi agreed that military officials could have done nothing more in 2012 when four Americans were killed, per a doc obtained by the Huffington Post. "In Monday's letter, which includes four separate comments from Gowdy's recently departed chief counsel, Democrats say Gowdy's own staffer agreed with the military. According to the letter, that staffer, former Gen. Dana Chipman, said in interviews with former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former Defense Department Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash that the department did all it could on that night when Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092eed7fd79bbbc34a1f0dd890b47dec7208390b93870954bf826

PELOSI PLAYS HARD TO GET: As a Senate watcher quite familiar with Elizabeth Warren's lack of an endorsement for Hillary Clinton, I must admit that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's hold-out of an endorsement comes as a surprise. But it looks like she's trying to play a little Harry Reid: Use the contested presidential primary in California to increase turnout and register new voters by staying neutral. Here's Pelosi to Rachael Bade when asked about why she hasn't yet endorsed: "I love Hillary Clinton, and I think she's going to be a great president ... I am not talking to you about the timing of my endorsement. ... I feel very confident she will be president."
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee5d0e2fd5da9d903a4c240b3a0917926f42e9dba9fa8b709f

DAILY GRAYSON - Rep. Alan Grayson's weekend MSNBC interview did "not go well," Marc Caputo writes, as the station had him on over the row with Harry Reid. "Grayson accused a Saturday morning MSNBC host of 'smearing' and spreading 'lies' about him. But the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate was the one twisting the truth. Grayson ducked the fact that an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation found probable cause to believe he broke ethics rules by running a hedge fund that bore his name. He also falsely suggested his hedge fund had nothing to do with a brochure it touted to investors." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee0c6e08047a78d42407146625110dbd1d3965cea28ae13d6e

SPENDING SOME TIME: The Senate already has one appropriations bill in the books after last week's passage of energy and water spending, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is going HAM this week pursuing MilCon and THUD along with Zika funding votes on Tuesday. WaPo's Kelsey Snell from 30,000 feet: "The progress so far on appropriations work is notable when compared with recent years when contentious stalemates over spending became the Senate norm, necessitating tense year-end budget deals crafted with the threat of a government shutdown hanging overhead. It becomes even more notable when compared with the House's inability to agree on what to do with its spending bills due to
internal squabbling among Republicans over the budget cap for the 12 annual appropriations bills." http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6db548cb2d4092ee50f3b27f85ce90c3b4d43371ccbe5a71d0263ae623836537

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Kenny Harrill and Patrick Boland were the first to answer that VP Aaron Burr's father was the president of Princeton. Talk about blue bloods.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - I'll take today's question: How many judges will the Senate have confirmed this Congress after the Xinis confirmation this evening? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day's Huddle. Email me at beverett@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=6db548cb2d4092ee8dd445db62411bae12fe153e266433f424ee0faab55ab44b

** A message from American Society of Anesthesiologists(R): Protect Safe VA Care. Join the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Veterans, physician anesthesiologists and VA Chiefs of Anesthesiology in opposing VA's proposed policy to remove physician anesthesiologists from Veterans' surgical teams abandoning a proven model of care where physician anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists work together to provide high-quality, safe anesthesia. There's no shortage of physician anesthesiologists in VA - this change isn't needed to improve access to anesthesia. VA's own internal review concluded current information doesn't support the proposed nurse-only model of anesthesia care as safe for
Veterans and key studies "do not provide any guidance on how to assign patients for management by a solo CRNA [nurse anesthetist], or whether more complex surgeries can be safely managed by CRNAs, particularly in small or isolated VA hospitals where preoperative and postoperative health system factors may be less than optimal."

Protect Safe VA Care. Vets earned it and deserve it. Visit www.safevacare.org. **

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