By Daniella Diaz and Katherine Tully-McManus

With assists from Jordain Carney, Sarah Ferris, Olivia Beavers, Ursula Perano and Burgess Everett

Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is making no secret that he has no plans to endorse Trump in the primary. | Getty Images

HOUSE GOP LEADERS’ OPEN-SECRET DIVIDE OVER TRUMP 

It’s the split that most everyone on the Hill knows about — and keeps rearing its head.

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) has endorsed Donald Trump, while both Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) have strong relationships with the former president turned 2024 frontrunner but are officially keeping their powder dry. Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) is taking it further, making no secret that he has no plans to endorse Trump in the primary.

That's causing some friction between Emmer and Trump world. When Eloise Gerson, a Trump donor, met with Emmer in May, she pressed him on the topic. Emmer told her that he wouldn’t endorse in the primary, and Gerson replied that she would plan to not donate to Emmer’s campaign, a person familiar with their conversation told Huddle.

A second top Trump donor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Huddle they didn’t take a meeting with Emmer to discuss fundraising because he won't support Trump in the primary.

The bigger picture: Nearly a year ago, the heated GOP whip race between Emmer and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) sparked tension over what Donald Trump Jr. and other Trump allies viewed as an unseemly interjection of Tucker Carlson’s son into the rivalry. Emmer claimed the leadership prize, of course — but his frosty encounter with Gerson suggests that the amiable Minnesotan may still have enemies in the former president’s camp.

Emmer is hardly the only Republican who’s staying off the Trump train during the primary and risking friction with a former president who’s famously fixated on loyalty. In fact, he’s not even the only GOP whip in that position.

Senate Republicans’ No. 2, John Thune (S.D.), is open about his interest in a new standard-bearer for the party, having endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in the primary. Thune flirted with skipping a reelection bid last year after Trump vowed to campaign against him.

Trump never followed through, and Thune won handily, but he and Emmer are perhaps the two biggest names in the congressional GOP whose distance from the former president promises to shape their political futures.

Add to that mix Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who joins Thune as one of three top contenders to eventually succeed Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. Cornyn frets, quite openly at times, that Trump can't win a general election.

House GOP leadership reminder: Emmer is part of a team that typically stays in line with the former president, though only Stefanik has endorsed Trump so far. McCarthy has notably weathered a summertime kerfuffle over his own decision to stay out of the primary as 18 of his incumbents try to hang on in districts that backed President Joe Biden in 2020.

— Daniella Diaz

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

STOP THE BIG-BOX BAIT AND SWITCH: Big-box retailers, led by Walmart and Target, are seeking a massive handout from Congress, paid for by consumers. Mega-retailers are trying to trick Congress into enacting harmful credit card routing legislation (S. 1838/H.R. 3881), falsely claiming that it will help small businesses. In reality, this bill transfers billions from consumers to big-box corporations while eliminating popular credit card rewards programs, weakening cybersecurity protections, and reducing access to credit. Congress: reject this Big-Box Bait and Switch. www.stopthebigboxbaitandswitch.com

GOOD MORNING! Welcome to Huddle, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Sept. 8, where we’d like to remind our amazing readers that Monday’s Huddle will publish in the late afternoon. The end of an era, and the beginning of a new one! (More on that below.)

MOST OF SENATE GOP WANTS UKRAINE CASH IN FUNDING PATCH

House Republicans want to leave Ukraine funding out of a stopgap spending bill that’s designed to keep the government open after Sept. 30. And as you might expect, the majority of Senate Republicans want to keep that cash on the table.

That schism spells real trouble for the GOP with just 22 days left in the month to settle on a spending plan that can pass the Republican-controlled House and the Democrat-run Senate.

The House-Senate divide: While Speaker Kevin McCarthy signals little interest in adding Ukraine aid to any short-term funding path, Sens. Cornyn, Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Huddle in interviews that most of their chamber colleagues want extra help for Kyiv’s ongoing fight against Russia.

Not to mention that McConnell has been clear that he wants Ukraine money passed soon.

“Time is of the essence,” Tillis said. “The last thing we want to have happen is not have a steady stream of funding to sustain the effort in Ukraine. I'm in the camp of, obviously we have to address disaster recovery [in the U.S.], and we also have to address the disaster in Ukraine if we fail to sustain it.”

Other GOP senators openly acknowledged how difficult it will be to bridge the chasm between them and increasingly Ukraine-aid-skeptical House Republicans.

"I don't know how it will work in the House. That would be my concern,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said. The No. 4 Senate GOP leader added that she’s “not entirely sold on the entire package, the entire supplemental. And I think we need to be very cautious about the humanitarian aid that we're giving the Ukraine.”

Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican, echoed her reluctance to dictate to McCarthy’s conference on the best way to get Ukraine aid across the finish line.

“They’re gonna have to figure out the best way to get this stuff across the floor of the House, and then we would have — however they do it — some flexibility when that all comes over here about how to marry it all up,” Thune said.

— Daniella Diaz, with assists from Ursula Perano and Burgess Everett

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HOUSE GOP DIVISIONS THREATEN TO TANK THREE SPENDING BILLS

House GOP leaders are eyeing votes on three spending bills this month: measures that fund the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. 

There’s just one problem — without a deal to make steep cuts to topline spending numbers for all 12 government funding bills, that plan lacks the votes to make it to the floor at all.

Asked about leadership’s plan to start bringing the three bills up for a vote, Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) turned the question back on Huddle, asking: “Why do you think they’re going to be on the floor?”

“I don’t see where there’s enough support in the Republican conference to pass them,” Perry added.

He’s not alone. Two other Republicans, who aren’t members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, gave us similar readouts. Absent a larger deal on spending levels, these GOP lawmakers said, the trio of spending bills could all get blocked from the floor outright by conservatives sinking the rule to debate them.

One of those Republicans, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the sensitive topic, said that the full-year funding bills for those three departments “won’t pass” in their current forms.

The break-glass solution: If McCarthy wants to pass those bills without agreeing to the lower spending levels conservatives are pushing for, he would need to get help from Democrats.

But McCarthy’s critics could still scuttle any bill in the House Rules Committee, where Freedom Caucus members Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) hold seats, along with sometimes gadfly Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

"In a way, the Freedom Caucus is probably going to try to tie these votes together," the second House Republican said. "They can just tank the rule, either in committee or on the floor, without a topline number provided for the overall discretionary spending numbers."

— Jordain Carney, Sarah Ferris and Olivia Beavers

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

SWEETGREEN OUTPOST UPDATE: PLEASE ROMAINE CALM 

Hill staffers were lining up on this final House recess week — but not for the usual blockbuster hearing or a celebrity sighting. This time, it was high-end salads that had everyone talking.

Sweetgreen landed on the Capitol campus this week with the launch of the two “outpost” delivery spots in the Cannon and O'Neill buildings, where staffers can pick up pre-ordered salads delivered from the Georgetown-born salad chain.

An aide with knowledge of the partnership (who, yes, spoke on condition of anonymity about the behind-the-scenes dish) told Huddle that 168 salads were delivered to aides on the two outlets’ first day alone. Demand is expected to rise when the House returns next week.

Among the pain points on the inaugural week of salad delivery: a “glitch” that left some orders unfilled and a rush to collect orders that had House employees scrambling to distribute lunches.

“Staffers were volunteering to call out names of orders,” to smooth salad distribution, one senior House aide told Huddle.

Beet the rush: Day one growing pains prompted a Dear Colleague letter — the third so far about the Sweetgreen launch —- outlining best practices for ordering and picking up the salads. That included advice to accommodate crowds by picking up salads 10 minutes after their scheduled time.

Lettuce pray: Senate aides made their dismay known that their side of the Capitol isn’t getting its own premium salad drop zone. They shouldn’t hold their breath for the Senate to launch its own Sweetgreen partnership: While the House Chief Administrative Office has been making an aggressive push to expand brand-name food options in the last decade, the Senate has not followed suit.

That’s because the Architect of the Capitol runs Senate food service contracting and has not faced the same pressure from lawmakers to expand food options that the CAO has. Still, there’s nothing to stop Senate staffers from making the half-mile journey (via air-conditioned tunnel) to get a salad.

Finally, a note from KTM: Your Huddle host of the last two years is thrilled to pass the baton to Daniella Diaz for a new era of essential Hill coverage hitting your inbox in the evening, starting next week.

The best part of the Huddle helm is loyal readers who send news tips, trivia questions, kind notes, historical context (and sometimes a passionate defense of their bosses). Keep that up! Thank you for spending your mornings with Huddle.

— Katherine Tully-McManus

A message from Electronic Payments Coalition:

CONGRESS: DON’T FALL FOR THE BIG-BOX BAIT-AND-SWITCH: Despite vigorous lobbying efforts from mega-retailers like Walmart and Target, proposed credit routing mandates (S. 1838/H.R. 3881) face steep bipartisan opposition. Consumers and small businesses don’t want to lose valuable credit card benefits or suffer from weakened cybersecurity protections– both consequences of proposed credit card routing mandates. Americans didn’t send their lawmakers to Washington to be fooled by the retail giants’ massive corporate welfare scheme--and they won’t forget those who sold out Main Street so that big-box retailers could line their pockets while consumers and small businesses suffer. Last year, Congress wisely rejected a similar Big-Box Bill, and they must do so again. Congress must protect consumers, preserve the integrity of the payment ecosystem, and reject this detrimental and unnecessary government intervention. www.stopthebigboxbaitandswitch.com

We now know the origin of the Fetterstache (sorry, this is our third straight day talking about it).

QUICK LINKS 

Tuberville Military Blockade Muddles New Nuclear Oversight, from Roxana Tiron and Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg Government

Peter Navarro convicted of contempt for defying Jan. 6 select committee, from Kyle Cheney

TRANSITIONS 

Beth Burke was named the next CEO of the Canadian American Business Council, succeeding Maryscott Greenwood after more than two decades in the role. Burke has overseen U.S. advocacy for the group for three years and is a former Ex-Im Bank and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) alum.

Lindsey Parobek has been promoted to be legislative director for Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). She most recently was senior legislative assistant for Simpson.

Lily Douthitt is now the legislative liason for the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. She was previously the senior legislative assistant for Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).

Kate Durkin is now chief of staff for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.). She joined Schakowsky’s office in January 2018 as a fellow, and has since served in the office as a staff assistant, legislative assistant, legislative counsel, and, most recently, legislative director.

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TODAY IN CONGRESS

The House convenes at 1 p.m. for a pro forma session.

The Senate is out.

AROUND THE HILL

Be a good citizen and donate some blood today. Details here. 

THURSDAY’S ANSWER: Emory Damron correctly guessed that Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) has a family member (Waldo Díaz-Balart) who is an international artist and was featured in two Andy Warhol films.

TODAY’S QUESTION from Emory: Who are the only two people to run on a national presidential ticket five times?

The first person to correctly guess gets a mention in the next edition of Huddle. Send your answers to [email protected].

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