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02/01/2018 07:55 AM EDT


By Nolan D. McCaskill (nmccaskill@politico.com or @NolanDMcCaskill)

FATAL TRAIN CRASH KILLS ONE AHEAD OF GOP RETREAT \u2015 Tragedy struck Wednesday morning when a train carrying congressional Republicans and staff to their annual retreat collided with a garbage truck near Charlottesville, Virginia. "It took us maybe a quarter-mile to stop," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told The Washington Post. Authorities identified Christopher Foley, 28, as the deceased. He was one of two people in the truck. A local hospital said it was treating six patients from the incident: one is in critical condition, one was discharged and four are "being evaluated." Lawmakers said 15 to 20 people out of some 200 passengers received some form of medical attention.

Emergency personnel, security officials and some members of Congress who are physicians aided injured passengers. And the planned retreat continued, albeit "with an adjusted program," a spokeswoman for the Congressional Institute said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by [the] incident," she added. "The National Transportation Safety Board announced that it was sending a team to the scene to investigate," Bres and Cristiano Lima report. "GOP lawmakers and staffers took to social media to update constituents on their status. Officials said there was no collision warning." Rachael tweeted an image of the damage. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea3372d55ce5a8ff1d92f7152edb14fda27740311df730ecd032e9fbe8eda139abd72351d2d57a85a25b

REPUBLICANS LEAVE IMMIGRATION TALKS IN WASHINGTON \u2015 Immigration is absent from the agenda for Republicans' West Virginia retreat. Republicans are instead scheduled to hold sessions patting themselves on the back for tax reform and discuss infrastructure, among other things. "Leadership's unwillingness to confront the internal divide over immigration comes as Republicans are turning on each other in a battle for the soul of their party," Rachael and Burgess report. "[T]he Senate is preparing to take up an immigration debate in February. But the party is all over the place on how, or even whether, to act to shield the beneficiaries" of the Obama-era DACA program set to end next month,
although a court has softened that deadline.

"The internal tensions threaten to overshadow the entire year in Congress and color the midterm elections, with control of both chambers on the line," they write, warning that an internal stalemate over immigration could prevent Republicans from tackling long-term spending, infrastructure and other priorities this year. "The standoff over immigration is at the heart of the ongoing fight over government spending, too - the latest deadline to prevent another shutdown is now only a week away." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea3301f8cf016150ecb45b483a8e313e996a10456b99a888d5a0280d27a847efb60d8d80581633343d61

President Donald Trump is set to speak to Republicans this afternoon. He tweeted this morning that he will discuss infrastructure and immigration reform. Vice President Mike Pence addressed the group last night. The VP told lawmakers they would "make history again in 2018, when we reelect Republican majorities in the House and in the Senate." House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told the group the GOP tax law could help Republicans retain control of the House, Burgess and Rachael report. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "urged Republicans to spend the entire year trying to sell the tax legislation if they wanted to keep the House and Senate." More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea331b054283d557aca494c2cd957b9df18479895b2ca0f01c43eadf12e8af312d9c1db7163f15e532dc

Related reads: "Behind Pence's plan to rescue the Republican majority in 2018," from Playbook's Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7a103c2916bac0ef53ceaf253336bc32abbf87993f984fae7120b7e4466350890ee4f6aadb3ac74f84 and "Biden to be keynote speaker at House Democratic retreat," via Heather: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea33a0a972f67e444a0db2abe79a154b3eaaa37feb440cc4a3a8a59e04fa7d5cd61e7eb92856596908d8

ONE WEEK TO FUND THE GOVERNMENT \u2015 The Feb. 8 deadline to fund the government is quickly approaching, and after Senate Democrats took some blame for last month's three-day government shutdown, this time Republicans could be at fault. Republicans are considering another stopgap funding bill, potentially stretching into March. The House could vote on it as early as Tuesday. But Sarah Ferris and Seung Min caution, "With Congress now staring down its fifth short-term spending bill since September, frustration is spreading across the House Republican Conference, particularly as negotiations have stalled over raising stiff budget caps and providing relief to so-called Dreamers, undocumented
immigrants brought to the U.S. as children."

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) told reporters this week that his members may not back a short-term bill unless Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) follows through on his pledge to push a more conservative immigration plan. "Defense hawks are also refusing to commit to another stopgap without a long-term spending agreement," they report. "They complain that the Pentagon has now spent more than one-third of the fiscal year under temporary funding, risking harm to service members." House Democrats plan to vote against any stopgap bills without deals on spending caps and immigration. Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea338ca0ed51f40f9a13eb8f9692432b59d2a6b0c37b40f54ea40a8cb0fd16e04341b0335baf35646a59

TOMORROW IS GROUNDHOG DAY. Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Thursday, Feb. 1.

WEDNESDAY'S MOST CLICKED: The mystery of whether Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.) was drooling during his response to the State of the Union was the big winner.

TAX CUTS SPEED UP DEBT LIMIT DEADLINE - The Congressional Budget Office said the U.S. is expected to hit its borrowing limit a month earlier than planned, a result of last year's $1.5 trillion tax law. "According to the budget office, the borrowing limit will most likely need to be raised in early March after the 'extraordinary measures' to extend borrowing employed by the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, are exhausted," Alan Rappeport writes for The New York Times. "The budget office previously projected that the debt limit would need to be raised beyond its current level of $20.5 trillion in late March or early April." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea3398f32bac7fedf267d9612ee8c12b2f459f4821b9ceb1de43b2d0b847b82f435ee88a202132814f51

FBI SPARS WITH WHITE HOUSE OVER RUSSIA MEMO \u2015 The FBI warned on Wednesday that it has "grave concerns" about the veracity of a classified memo Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted this week to publicly release. "Former FBI agents said they saw the Wednesday statement as a shot across the bow of Trump and other Republicans who have repeatedly cast the bureau as politically biased," Kyle and Josh Gerstein report. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the panel, accused Republicans of altering the memo it sent to the White House, though Republicans dismissed the changes as "minor edits." The White House could release the document as early as today.

The escalation of tensions comes amid reports Trump asked the deputy attorney general in December if he was "on my team," an FBI agent accused of having Trump bias co-wrote a draft of the October 2016 letter Hillary Clinton blames for her election loss and White House communications director Hope Hicks said on a conference call that Donald Trump Jr.'s emails setting up the infamous Trump Tower meeting with the Russian lawyer "will never get out."

Related: "Trump, RNC legal bills top $5M in 2017," from Maggie Severns: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7a1a5b1a0b35c263eb6d68bf8cfb2b77eee2612ac44c2a5e2ced72e9b34c4e1bb66c603e25093510ce and "Why the Russia probe demolished one lobbying firm but spared another," by Theodoric Meyer: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea33ee18afa3b6a33aa2b672b94ef507f619a4fd87839cf921fc0a2915e28ef05b2f666c705437fbc0c9

DOJ DROPS CASE AGAINST MENENDEZ \u2015 The Justice Department reversed itself on Wednesday, dropping its corruption case against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who is running for reelection this year. "The decision by Judge Jose Linares in Newark to dismiss all the remaining counts comes less than two weeks after the Justice Department announced it would retry Menendez, ... New Jersey's senior senator, and his co-defendant, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, on corruption charges," Matt Friedman and Ryan Hutchins report. "The decision is a major victory for Menendez and the Democratic Party, which was facing the prospect of having the 12-year incumbent facing a corruption trial while running for
what should be one of its safest Senate seats." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=a61089f98b08ea33778c127acca918ad9c010609a4414fb6f52474e1eac223b3b284607e02df31e4c33d7f2893258b08

GOWDY CALLS IT QUITS \u2015 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) announced he won't seek reelection, adding to the already incredible number of House GOP chairs who won't be part of the next Congress. Sources close to Gowdy told Rachael that the lawmaker "wants to return home, practice law and maybe teach and write a book with his friend Sen. Tim Scott." Gowdy said in a statement that he won't be "seeking any other political or elected office" but will instead return to the justice system. He did, however, turn down the White House's offer to fill a slot on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gowdy thought he would get a call from the White House for the attorney general post following Trump's election, but he was never interviewed. He says, in fact, he's never had a conversation with the president. Freedom Caucus founder Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is eyeing Gowdy's oversight post, and national Republicans expect a crowded primary to replace him in his GOP-leaning district seat. Potential candidates include state Reps. Dan Hamilton and Garry Smith, and former South Carolina GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd, a businesswoman. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7adcb6b27761daeb259c420f350a34b299a88aaaea3cbed311e0279bd42cca6f9a2afb4b7d03f9a058

Other departures announced Wednesday include Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), whose campaign is being investigated over allegations that it paid a primary challenger to drop out in 2012; and CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald, who resigned in the wake of a POLITICO report revealing that she traded tobacco stocks after taking over the agency. Adam Cancryn and Jennifer Haberkorn explained why Fitzgerald had to go: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7a634bb08208a44d281c67d3dba50e9e787a2b429af1e441eb82484691d7ad6bd85b8e9337c6f3a0f9

SCOTT MOUNTING SENATE RUN? \u2015 Florida Gov. Rick Scott raised more than $1.1 million for a recently revived super PAC he's stocked with top consultants from previous campaigns, the "clearest sign he's ready to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson," Marc Caputo and Matt Dixon report this morning. Supporters who have spoken with Scott recently say he has also touted his poll numbers. "A Scott bid would complicate Democratic hopes of winning back the Senate next year - of the 10 Democrats up for reelection in states carried by President Donald Trump, Nelson has been considered one of the most vulnerable," they write.

The term limited governor is expected to decide whether to run after March 9, the end of his last 60-day legislative session as governor. Scott hasn't said which way he's leaning, but people familiar with his thinking put the likelihood of him running between 80 and 95 percent. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7af5741109d75cb130216a8cdc8aae2dcd792848bbd87148a6c365790a1a3d00ce305db05325d88086

JOINT NEWS PROBE FINDS 100 'ZOMBIE CAMPAIGNS' \u2015 Former disgraced Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was forced out of Congress more than a decade ago. Yet he used his congressional campaign fund to eat on the Palm Beach circuit four times early last year, including a $450 expenditure. Then there's Dylan Beesley, a political adviser who paid his firm more than $100,000 over the past 17 months from former Rep. Mark Takai's (D-Hawaii) campaign account. Takai died in 2016.

"In their political afterlife, former politicians and their staffers are hoarding unspent campaign donations for years and using them to finance their lifestyle, advance their new careers and pay family members," reporters for the Tampa Bay Times, 10News WTSP and TEGNA-owned TV stations found in a year-long investigation that reviewed a million FEC records. "Their spending makes a mockery of one of the fundamental principles of America's campaign finance laws: Donations must be spent only on politics, not politicians' personal lives." Much, much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=8c276a65f4fd2a7a361a191c2fa85c535e03621402e9c9ee8b752dfa82de547c712be71d2d43592587fedfedf7db21d6

TODAY IN CONGRESS - The House and Senate are out for the remainder of the week.

WEDNESDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER - No one guessed that President John F. Kennedy delivered a second address to a joint session of Congress in May 1961, during which he told lawmakers that "extraordinary times" required him to break the tradition of making the State of the Union an annual address. He challenged the country to "achieve the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

TODAY'S TRIVIA - Today's question comes from Lynne Weil: Today would have been the 90th birthday of the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress. Who is this person, what state did he or she represent and what committee did he or she chair? The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your best guess my way: nmccaskill@politico.com.

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