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By Heather Caygle | 07/19/2017 07:51 AM EDT


With an assist from Elana Schor

WHITE HOUSE TRIES TO WOO RELUCTANT SENATORS - President Donald Trump has invited all 52 Republican senators for lunch today as part of a last ditch effort to save the GOP's fading health care push. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will hold a vote to open debate on health care next week, even though the procedural motion is expected to fail. Several Republican senators wanted the vote this week but the White House asked for more time to try to reach a deal, Burgess reports.

Twisting arms and taking names: Trump "believes he can get an agreement to move forward by twisting arms and negotiating himself ... although Senate Republicans are not optimistic," Seung Min, Jen Haberkorn and Burgess report. With Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) saying Tuesday they will vote against opening up debate, the latest effort seems poised for failure. The state of play: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf205355b1848aff227c21ab62de8ff7753255bb789b1e6e0308018a4786300cf1fda0b3c80932e5cdb4feb725be9b8c4f2

Meanwhile, angry conservatives are already promising to primary GOP senators who vote against repealing Obamacare, Alex Isenstadt and Gabriel Debenedetti report. "Senior GOP officials spent much of Tuesday surveying the anger and frustration within their own party and taking calls from bitterly disappointed contributors, some of whom threatened to turn off the cash spigot." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf29e8f753ee1e7931ec626af7a59cbee58ea4b1552c9247d435a4f447a9cbcd0ed699a78d03a54942040e381809dbdedcf

Some senators are starting to pursue bipartisan avenues: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) were looking to meet with other governors-turned-senators as soon as last night. But Democrats, even Manchin and other red-state moderates up for reelection, are only open to working with Republicans after the GOP abandons its repeal effort. "I've been ready for a long time," Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said. But "if the price of admission is doing away with Medicaid expansion or block granting Medicaid, it's going to be very difficult. I won't do it." Elana and Seung Min: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf2d6c7fe2d73f540f9c99f57638c2533cc39e81f66cf2c5c6dd2f84a0d24d590a532625ea80e3c7433cbd59cab2ee303bb

On the House side, members of the New Democrat Coalition along with Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) were circulating a letter Tuesday offering to work with Republicans to stabilize the individual insurance market. New Dem leaders pitched the idea during a semi-regular meeting with the GOP's moderate Tuesday Group but no concrete agreements were made. "We've got to break the fever," Welch told Huddle. "The individual marketplace is not, theoretically, the controversial area," added New Dem Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.). "You can still be for repeal but you've got to stabilize the marketplace."

A BLOW TO McCONNELL - The failure to repeal Obamacare, even with the GOP controlling both Congress and the White House, marks McConnell's lowest point as Senate Republican leader, Bres and Burgess write. "It's also a blow to McConnell's reputation as a master legislator and raises doubts in the White House about what Senate Republicans can actually deliver." Divisions in the party - moderates arguing it would be suicidal to repeal Obamacare without a replacement; conservatives saying centrists never actually wanted a repeal - were on full display during a GOP lunch Tuesday. And it seems not even McConnell can bridge that divide. "This is an impossible hand," said Senate Majority Whip John
Cornyn (R-Texas), the Kentucky Republican's closet ally. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf2e0f268972ba3975c2de44ef8dd6f6147b5e0c8dbd422d6460694f1047f9c22e4200a40688180002e14f6b9bad108a480

Pick your tick-tock: "'It's an insane process': How Trump and Republicans failed on their health-care bill," via the Washington Post's Robert Costa, Kelsey Snell and Sean Sullivan; And from the New York Times: "How the Senate Health Care Bill Failed: G.O.P. Divisions and a Fed-Up President," from Jennifer Steinhauer, Glenn Thrush and Robert Pear.

WEDNESDAY, BACK AGAIN. Welcome to July 19 (we're plowing through this month!) and thanks for reading POLITICO's Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill. Happy National Hot Dog Day folks. We like to load ours up with all the goodies: ketchup, mustard, sauerkraut, chili and cheese. Yum!

TUESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: Kevin Cirilli's video of his push-up contest against Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) got the most clicks but, surprisingly, the House GOP's fiscal 2018 budget proposal wasn't too far behind.

DEMS PUT FINAL TOUCHES ON 2018 AGENDA - Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi huddled Tuesday on their party's 2018 agenda and messaging strategy, with a plan to roll it out in a joint event next week. DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) and Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Il.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), leaders of House Democrats' messaging arm, were also on hand. Bustos, Cicilline and Jeffries are holding a meeting this morning to outline messaging for House Democrats. Democratic leaders want their members to test the agenda back home during the August recess. Elana and I scooped a few weeks ago that the economic plan is likely to be called "Better Deal,"
which sources say hasn't changed.

Some Democrats aren't waiting for top-down direction: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) will present economic ideas he says Democrats should be running on during an event at centrist think tank Third Way this morning. Cleaver's 10-point plan includes raising the minimum wage, tackling student debt and universal pre-k. "You can't be something with nothing," he told Huddle Tuesday, saying he thinks Democrats have spent too much time berating the GOP's health care push and not enough time offering proactive fixes of their own. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) and Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) will also be speaking at the breakfast.

TWEET DU JOUR: Sen. Jeff Flake tweeted a note of encouragement Tuesday to a Democratic challenger who has received a barrage of hateful comments for being Muslim: @JeffFlake: Hang in there @deedra2018. Sorry you have to put up with this. Lots of wonderful people across AZ. You'll find them.

HOUSE TO VOTE ON BORDER WALL FUNDING - After falling far short of the votes needed to pass a massive 12-bill spending package next week, House Republicans are resorting to Plan B. The House will vote next week on a "minibus" that includes four spending bills that fund the Pentagon and VA, the legislative branch and the Energy Department, Jen Scholtes, Sarah Ferris and Rachael report. The spending package will also include funding for Trump's proposed border wall, sources say. GOP aides "confirmed the plan to include the wall money in next week's bill. But there probably won't be an up-or-down vote on the funding," the AP's Andy Taylor reports. More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf2e94fdda5beeef9431ea02a9684fea17cdc3e9be89b4839c77ad771452042d039e30c5cea6a58f96a3477954a7d9c2dc3

MUELLER GIVES OK FOR TRUMP JR. TESTIMONY - Special counsel Robert Mueller has greenlighted Senate Judiciary leaders to question Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort about their meeting with a Russian lawyer last year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday. The California Democrat, ranking member on the Judiciary panel, said Mueller told them he has "no problem" with Trump Jr. testifying publicly. Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) delayed a planned hearing for today but Feinstein said she thinks the hearing with Trump Jr. will happen before the August recess. Austin and Seung Min: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf2538e6af5422cd92e58df97785e1e8ca0060f9f21fc878248b3e1556c54c16a4fe6010ac0212311337ad2180d4d292d91

DCCC SWITCHES TO ENCRYPTED COMMUNICATIONS - After being the target of cyberattacks last year, House Democrats' campaign arm is switching to an encrypted system to communicate with its frontline campaigns heading into the midterms. Wickr, the end-to-end encrypted software installed in June, will be used "for all internal communication and for communication between the DCCC and the 20 most vulnerable House incumbent campaigns," Ruby Cramer reports for BuzzFeed. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf2e5bf4b1649a2841a2c5c1661bb930bb6f5efbb4c832f4275b0da623a1f417f05a385fea246627d65a723ab3e927aab0d

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. with a procedural vote related to John K. Bush, nominee to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, at 10:30 a.m. Bush came under fire last month for dodging questions from senators about his controversial blog posts, including comparing abortion to slavery.

The House meets at 10 a.m. with first votes at 1:30 p.m. and last votes at 5 p.m. Today's agenda: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=d843cc4909264cf25ce60e083632e387a99862419236e85ffafbc747c158ee8bb64dbb20fc0efffc50e517ac0ec3dcb970932f117494915a

AROUND THE HILL - Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Al Green (D-Texas), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) hold a press conference to introduce a resolution of no confidence against President Trump at 9:30 a.m. in HVC Studio B.

Reps. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) participate in a briefing on democracy in Venezuela at 9:30 a.m. in 215 Dirksen. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) holds a 9:30 a.m. press conference on the Endangered Species Act in the House triangle.

Dueling lunch opportunities: Starting at noon, PETA holds its annual veggie dog giveaway outside of Rayburn to counter the North American Meat Institute's annual hot dog lunch.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Vice Chair Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) hold a pen and pad at 1 p.m. in Longworth 1416.

Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.) and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) take part in a photo op with a turbofan engine at 2 p.m. behind the Longworth building. Congressional Blue Collar Caucus co-chairs Marc Veasey (D-Texas) and Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) participate in a pen and pad with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka at 5 p.m. in 1416 Longworth.

TUESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - Allen Telgenhof correctly guessed that Richard Nixon loved to munch on Milky Way bars for breakfast while a law student at Duke.

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Allen with today's question: Other than President Trump, how many major party candidates for president have not served in either a public office, cabinet position, as an ambassador or as a general and who are they? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send answers my way: hcaygle@politico.com

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