Two House GOP leaders being pushed to consider higher office

1. GOP leadership shake-up?

The new House GOP leadership team could see some changes in the near future -- with two of the three top Republicans considering runs for higher office.

"Steve Scalise, who is the No.2, is being wooed personally by President Trump to run for governor of Louisiana this year," New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin said. "And the No. 3, Liz Cheney, is thinking about running for the Senate next year in Wyoming. I'm told that Scalise is dead set against running for governor this year, 100% ... I'm told. But Cheney is a different story."

Cheney -- the eldest daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney -- is only in her second term in office, and some see her as a potential future Republican speaker.

"My understanding is that she's being tugged both ways," Martin said. "She's torn, is the way it was described to me yesterday by folks that know her. What's fun about this is nobody is watching more closely than the number one GOP House leader, Kevin McCarthy. Because those two could be a threat to him at some point down the road."

2. Steve Bullock's big bet

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock joined the 2020 fray last week -- with a message that Democrats need to nominate someone with appeal in red states. Someone like, say, Steve Bullock.

"It's clear his bet is based on the fact that he's from outside Washington," CNN's Jeff Zeleny said. "He's going to be running against Washington, which means running against some of the Democratic senators as well."

But another candidate is also running as a consensus candidate who can work with people on both sides of the aisle -- frontrunner Joe Biden.

"Bullock's biggest bet is something he has no control over: does Joe Biden stumble and does that give an opening for him," Zeleny said.

3. Trump feeling good about internal polls

Recent polls show the President losing in a general election to most of the top-tier Democrats vying to run against him. But the Trump campaign is seeing good news in its own polls, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said.

"President Trump got a polling briefing with his campaign manager Brad Parscale, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and the vice president on Friday," Haberman said.

A recent poll commissioned by the campaign showed Trump struggling against Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, Haberman said. "But they believe there are better figures for him if you look deeper into the numbers."

4. A partisan fight over disaster aid

You'd think helping Americans hard-hit by recent natural disasters would be a non-partisan issue. But not in today's Washington, Washington Post reporter Seung Min Kim said.

"It's been really complicated this time around by the President's resistance to increase spending for Puerto Rico," which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The Senate is set to vote on a bill this week to send money to Puerto Rico along with southern and midwestern states hit by storms and floods.

"There's not even a guarantee the White House would support what the Republican-led Senate comes up with," Kim said. "But these states are really hurting and there's a lot of pressure on Congress to get aid done very quickly."

5. The week Washington's been waiting for

From CNN Chief National Correspondent John King:

This is the week we should learn whether there will ever be an infrastructure week.

That phrase -- "Infrastructure Week" has become a punch line in Washington -- a 2016 Trump campaign promise that has always offered the faint glimmer of possible bipartisan cooperation yet has never materialized.

The week ahead offers a test.

Trump is meeting again with top congressional Democrats, after embracing, a few weeks ago, their ambitious goal of a $2 trillion infrastructure package. The President asked for time to sort out his preferences for paying for such a plan, and so Democrats are returning this week to listen -- knowing the only way to get a $2 trillion package through Congress, especially the Republican Senate, is to have the President leading the charge.

Insert skepticism here.

The President has long wanted a big plan, but he also has consistently faced opposition from other Republicans, including some in senior administration jobs.

Those more conservative voices are OK with some public-private partnerships or financing ideas like loan guarantees, but do not favor giant federal spending on infrastructure. Nor do they support raising revenue by raising the gas tax, an idea supported by the Chamber of Commerce and some other GOP establishment organizations. Those groups have been sending the White House ideas to pay for an infrastructure package, and top White House aides including the chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, scrambled this past week to assure conservatives the administration will not back any tax increase.

But some of those conservatives remain nervous, in part because of a Fox News interview in which Trump makes clear he was not happy with comments Mulvaney made playing down the prospects of an infrastructure deal and suggesting $2 trillion was too large of a package in any event.

The Democrats involved say they are going to the White House to listen -- to see if the President lays out how big of a plan he wants and how he would pay for it.

If it falls well short of $2 trillion, and Democrats don't like the financing mechanisms, the prospects for any bipartisan movement before the 2020 election would likely move from dim to dark. In other words, Infrastructure Week hangs in the balance.

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