Tipsheet: Distrust of Senate grows within GOP

View in your browser     Distrust of Senate grows within GOP By Alexander Bolton   A day after the GOP presented a united front around the rollout of President Trump’s tax plan, House Republicans are expressing deep reservations about the Senate’s ability to get the job done. Lawmakers stung over the failure to pass ObamaCare repeal worry the same fate could befall the tax measure if a handful of senators raise objections. Read the full story here     Dramatic return stirs Scalise speculation on Capitol Hill By Scott Wong Rep. Steve Scalise’s (R-La.) dramatic return to the Capitol on Thursday — 15 weeks since he nearly lost his life in a shooting on a Virginia baseball field — had GOP lawmakers and aides buzzing about whether they just witnessed a future Speaker of the House. Read the full story here     Price to reimburse taxpayers for part of cost of charter jets By Nathaniel Weixel Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price vowed Thursday to reimburse taxpayers for his use of private charter jets for official government business. An HHS spokesperson said Price will pay $51,887.31 for his seat on the flights, a fraction of the entire cost. Read the full story here     Furious Dems say urgency lacking in Puerto Rico response By Mike Lillis Accusing President Trump of neglecting storm victims in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, House Democrats on Thursday pressed both the administration and congressional Republicans to step up their response to Hurricane Maria. Read the full story here       Senators zero in on deal to stabilize ObamaCare markets By Peter Sullivan Just days after Republicans put their hopes of repealing ObamaCare on ice, leaders of the Senate Health Committee are getting closer to a bipartisan deal aimed at stabilizing the health-care law’s markets. Read the full story here     Red-state Dems need more from Trump before tax embrace By Naomi Jagoda and Kim Dixon   President Trump has his work cut out for him in winning over red-state and centrist Democrats for his tax plan. Many of the Democratic senators who hail from states that Trump won in last year's election say they fear the bill will end up being a giveaway to the rich that explodes the debt. Read the full story here     Rep. Sinema to challenge Flake for Senate seat By Reid Wilson Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D) announced Thursday that she will challenge Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake (R) in 2018, kicking off what will be one of the marquee contests of the midterm election cycle. Read the full story here     ICE arrests nearly 500 immigrants in 'sanctuary cities' By Julia Manchester   Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials announced Thursday they had arrested nearly 500 people in a four-day operation targeting so-called "sanctuary cities." Read the full story here     Trump attacks threaten to pull Facebook back into culture war By Harper Neidig   President Trump’s Wednesday attack on Facebook threatens to pull the social media giant back into the culture war. Trump’s barrage, launched in a series of tweets, comes a year after Facebook found itself embroiled in controversy over how its newsfeed editors treated conservative media. Read the full story here     White House says Trump's stance on kneeling NFL players is 'pretty black and white' By Jordan Fabian   White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Thursday defended President Trump’s stance on athlete protests during the national anthem as “pretty black and white.” Read the full story here     Jack Caravelli: Trump should remember Iran is watching his rhetoric on North Korea By Jack Caravelli OPINION | Trump would be wise to remember that Iran is watching his verbal attacks on North Korea, and that he should be cautious in choosing his rhetoric. Read the full story here     John Lott: The ugly truth behind Obama's war on the Second Amendment By John Lott OPINION | Sometimes, when the government abuses its tremendous power to scapegoat someone, even proponents of government power find it to be too much. Read the full story here     The Wall Street Journal: Republican tax plan quickly hits first hurdle By Richard Rubin and Siobhan Hughes A day after announcing their ambitious tax plan, Republicans debated scaling back one of their largest and most controversial proposals to pay for lower tax rates: repeal of the individual deduction for state and local taxes. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: Zinke took $12,000 charter flight home in oil executive’s plane, documents show By Drew Harwell and Lisa Rein Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke chartered a flight from Las Vegas to near his home in Montana this summer aboard a plane owned by oil-and-gas executives, internal documents show. Read the full story here     The New York Times: Lobbyists rally to save tax breaks under threat in Trump plan By Alan Rapperport and Thomas Kaplan Republicans’ release of a sweeping plan to rewrite the tax code has set off a scramble among Washington lobbyists and trade groups to protect valuable tax breaks and other long-ingrained provisions. Read the full story here     The Associated Press: Puerto Ricans say US relief efforts failing them By Danica Coto and Laurie Kellman The Trump administration declared Thursday that its relief efforts in Puerto Rico are succeeding, but people on the island said help was scarce and disorganized... Read the full story here     Reuters: Russia accuses CNN International of violating Russian media law By Reuters Staff Russia’s communications regulator on Friday accused U.S. TV channel CNN International of violating Russian media law and said it had summoned the broadcaster’s representatives in connection with the matter. 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