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04/16/2018 08:03 AM EDT


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

MCCARTHY VS. RYAN? -- Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) endorsed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to succeed him as speaker in a "Meet the Press" interview Sunday. But that doesn't mean the two aren't battling for the future of GOP leadership. McCarthy allies "are upset that Ryan insists on staying through the election," Rachael and Bres report. "They think the delay can only hurt McCarthy's chances and might mean a months-long power struggle in the House Republican Conference in the thick of election season." But while House Majority Whip Steve Scalise backed McCarthy after Ryan twice suggested the Louisiana Republican had already endorsed his California colleague, Freedom Caucus member
Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) could mount a challenge.

"Jordan couldn't win. But he could deny McCarthy votes from the Freedom Caucus that he can't become speaker without," they write. "All the while, rank-and-file House Republicans are divided over whether to postpone a speakership vote until after the November elections or get the divisive process over with now. There's a fear that if Ryan remains speaker, the drama over who will lead the conference will only get worse." And with President Donald Trump proving to be a drag on the ballot, Republicans worry that a seven-month leadership race could only worsen their chances to keep their House majority. Much more: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6fac3cd77eef0a50e3f89307c34482bcc666e739a0f7dd6424a9a1909b73eed4402d1be2919178dd99536c13ed6a5b6d

Related: "Possible House leader Kevin McCarthy seen by Trump as ally," by The Associated Press' Alan Fram and Zeke Miller: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7129dbc90ad3aab62f9ebddc24a3f5c0ea65619cfffdf1f00e150ceb50fee3f25c11254ddcf783b530 and "Some Republicans See House Speaker Race as an Open Field," from The Wall Street Journal's Siobhan Hughes: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae718c77aa44e5400c8fc7fb7b1995175845c794f9334d3d370bdd8c5ba78f892278ad7739aae6523f4a

TILLIS RISKS UPSETTING BASE, TRUMP OVER MUELLER BILL -- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) supports the president's agenda and spares him from criticism about his tweets. But he's leading a bipartisan effort to protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being ousted, and he has harsh words for conservatives who might object. "The same people who would criticize me for filing this bill would be absolutely angry if I wasn't pounding the table for this bill if we were dealing with Hillary Clinton," he tells Burgess in his Senate office. "So spare me your righteous indignation."

Republicans tell Tillis that Trump will never sign his bill, and some worry it could hurt the North Carolina Republican's reelection campaign in 2020. Democrats, however, say the legislation is a warning shot to Trump, even if it never becomes law. But Tillis "argues that passing the law now would offer future protections against liberal presidents under investigation, specifically 'a President [Elizabeth] Warren or a President [Bernie] Sanders or a President [Cory] Booker,'" Burgess continues. "And if successful, he'd remove a major talking point from Democrats who have been slamming the GOP for not doing more to safeguard Mueller and the rule of law." Much more:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7148bf880533cd31869fde8222c6cc529037e1568520707aa1dbdb9cd8ff82988535cf4eea931b6d95

Related read: "The President Is Not Above The Law," by The New York Times' editorial board: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae71ec8bc03fca37ec85f04b05d9f3042ab6a1c2341e53fac04cf42030d31925da5d81d28f1a6ea0a1d0

CONGRESS COMMENDS, CRITICIZES SYRIA STRIKES -- Republican leaders unsurprisingly applauded Trump's decision to launch retaliatory "precision strikes" against three chemical weapons sites in Syria last week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told WYMT that Trump "did the right thing," and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the U.S. took "decisive action" against Bashar Assad's "unconscionable brutality against innocent civilians." But even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the strikes "appropriate," though he warned the administration against getting the U.S. "into a greater and more involved war in Syria."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), however, was more critical of the president. "One night of airstrikes is not a substitute for a clear, comprehensive Syria strategy," Pelosi said in a statement. "The president must come to Congress and secure an Authorization for Use of Military Force by proposing a comprehensive strategy with clear objectives that keep our military safe and avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians." Trump also faced some bipartisan backlash. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said the strikes were "unconstitutional, illegal, and reckless," a sentiment echoed by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who stressed that "Congress has the power to declare war -- and only
Congress."

Related: "US to hit Russia with new sanctions for aiding Syria's Assad," from AP's Hope Yen and Robert Burns: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7176e272317f709703aafd9722277049aca6a2c168429903a359da5e66803af1b9e88cbd644432044e "Trump's Syria identity crisis," via Michael Crowley and Bryan Bender: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7181dfdf4c443b32ff0cce5a85f820a59719428820e721d9598c1f9c4c4dd8fd717231f6afab92b73e and "Trump risks political blowback from his base on Syria," per Nancy Cook: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae712e8b4f032f2f55aa092c819c1f425b1bef340a771742abeaaef73ae03ccbd06275504382c8c51443

GOOD MORNING! Thanks for reading Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Monday, April 16.

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FRIDAY'S MOST CLICKED: HuffPost's report on House Republicans' failed balanced budget amendment was the winner.

KAINE OPPOSES POMPEO -- Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) backed Mike Pompeo for CIA director. But he won't be supporting the CIA chief's effort to lead the State Department, citing a "tendency to oppose diplomacy." With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also opposed, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could give Pompeo an unfavorable vote. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), another committee member, signaled she, too, would vote against Pompeo after supporting his nomination for CIA director. "Even if Pompeo doesn't win the committee's endorsement, Senate Republican leaders will still likely bring his nomination to the floor, where he could be approved," Martin Matishak reports. More:
http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae71903450086f4255922534eed2f099df832b1ce8e9942faf50028e0ade61bb24d471a7a81e23e95bc0

GOP SENATE CANDIDATES RUN ON TRUMP -- Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Evan Jenkins touts that he's attended a Christmas party with Trump and flown on Air Force One with the president. And Mitt Romney, the former GOP Trump critic running for Senate in Utah, argues that he's more hawkish on immigration than Trump. "Such flattery matters in GOP Senate primaries these days, even as Republicans in Washington express increasing unease with the president's contradictory and pugilistic style of governance," The Washington Post's Michael Scherer reports. "In intraparty fights across the country, fealty to Trump has become the coin of the realm."

"Candidates who once distanced themselves from him now declare themselves acolytes, attack rivals for any deviation from the Trumpian script and, in one case, even don his cherry-red campaign cap in ads," he continues. "At the root of the fawning rapprochements are two defining features of the Senate landscape: Trump enjoys enormous popularity among Republican primary voters, and most of the contested races are in states Trump won in 2016." The dynamic is strikingly different from competitive House races, in which Republicans are distancing themselves from the president in the hopes of mitigating a blue wave. More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae71afec3a50be7d59b633b43d124a435236b63ce2b9cf3f987b7ef0eeb8de31461153580c521c77e756

THE SECRET'S OUT -- A newly formed super PAC generically named the "Mountain Families PAC" began running TV ads targeting Republican West Virginia Senate candidate Don Blankenship late last week. "The national party isn't promoting its role in the group, but its fingerprints are all over it," Alex Isenstadt reports. "The 30-second commercials, which the group is spending nearly $700,000 to air, accuse Blankenship's company of contaminating drinking water by pumping 'toxic coal slurry,' even as the multimillionaire installed a piping system that pumped clean water to his mansion."

The move is an effort to stop Blankenship, who was recently imprisoned after a deadly 2010 explosion at his mine, from gaining traction ahead of the state's May 8 primary. "The Republican hopeful has spent his own money to fund a $1.3 million TV ad blitz in which he portrays himself as the casualty of an Obama-era Justice Department bent on locking him up," Isenstadt writes. "He has far outspent his primary opponents, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whom he castigates as pawns of the GOP establishment." The party fears Blankenship could cost the GOP a winnable race against Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) but is also wary of such attacks emboldening his candidacy.
More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7124be0198a49e51ac5f7f7c8aeb3a3e03c69e240ef860c3af733d2ed2ce00b9556fb42231f1db3e55

GOP STRUGGLES TO MAKE TAX CUTS A WINNING ISSUE -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in December that if members couldn't sell the tax cuts they had just passed to the American people, they should find "another line of work." "Four months later, some GOP lawmakers who hoped the law would save them from defeat may have to start dusting off their resumes," Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur writes. "After most individual taxpayers finish up their returns this week, all eyes will turn to what the tax code revamp means for next year's filings and beyond." Some recent polls indicate a majority of Americans still don't support the tax cuts.

And the cuts weren't enough to stop Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) from winning a special election in a district the president won by 20 points in 2016. "Part of the Republican party's problem in selling the tax cuts is that the answer is murky for many," Kapur reports. "Variables like dependents and itemized deductions can complicate the picture, even though most -- 65 percent -- will see a tax cut in 2018. And even for voters who do see a cut, whether it's enough to sway their decisions at the ballot box is far from clear." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae716cca2c05515e446aaea8afac6f30cee8d6d0b34529798d5134fc188479fcd8b9a2262194b16a96f5

RNC COMMITS $250M TO PROTECT THE HOUSE -- The RNC has pledged $250 million to a midterm strategy aimed at protecting House Republicans' majority. "Facing the prospect of a blue wave this fall, the White House's political arm is devoting unprecedented resources to building an army of paid staff and trained volunteers across more than two dozen states," The Associated Press' Steve Peoples reports. "The RNC is taking the fight to Senate Democrats in Republican-leaning states, but much of the national GOP's resources are focused on protecting Republican-held House seats in states including Florida, California and New York."

"We have to win the House," RNC political director Juston Johnson said. The committee already has 300-state based staff on its payroll and anticipates having 900 total paid staff -- excluding its Washington, D.C., headquarters. But the RNC's strategy is both costly and risky. "The RNC's focus on a sophisticated field operation designed to identify and turn out key voters ... leaves the RNC with no additional resources to run advertising on television or the internet," Peoples notes. "It also puts tremendous pressure on the president and senior party leaders to raise money to fund the massive operation." More: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae7168d21fb2ddb7061e22d41c1ddac64580af0431ae33c2f8d390438ed1f5624b09702e3392114c7620

Related read: "Priorities USA super PAC ramps up fundraising for 2018," by Scott Bland: http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=dbde563d4548ae718e4c5c31b81940354f73c75cbe4b5ad024b35bfa60cba84d2e3be050ec6bc2147d4f3e86ad107963

TRANSITIONS -- Casey Black starts as press secretary for Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) today. She most recently was press secretary for Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.).

TODAY IN CONGRESS -- The House gavels in at 12 p.m., with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. The Senate meets at 3 p.m. to resume consideration of a Tribal labor bill. There will be a procedural vote on the bill at 5:30 p.m.

AROUND THE HILL -- Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) will meet with VA secretary nominee Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson at 4:30 p.m. in 131 Russell.

FRIDAY'S TRIVIA WINNER -- No one correctly guessed that the House speaker and House minority leader have never represented the same state.

TODAY'S TRIVIA -- Who is the last senator whose father, a major party's presidential nominee, lost the general election? 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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