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WASHINGTON - There are few things that strike more fear into the heart of a member of Congress than the word redistricting.

That proved particularly true this week among Texas Republicansin Washington, thanks to a recent court ruling that came about just as talk was increasing in Austin that Gov. Greg Abbott may call a special session.Some Texas Republicans in Congress hope that any upcoming special session will include redrawing the state's 36 congressional districts as part of its agenda.

The message coming out of Austin thus far: not going to happen.

Several congressional Republicans told the Tribune theywant Abbott to call a special session to redraw the Congressional lines. They believe such a maneuverwould put theirallies in the state legislature in the driver's seat, circumventing Republicans' worst fear:that a panel of federal judges will draw a less favorable map of its own.

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I cant speak for my whole delegation but Ive already reached out to some of my friends back in the legislatureI said, Give me a holler,'"said U.S. Rep.Randy WeberR-Friendswood, on his hopes for a special session.

My thought is, if the legislature doesnt [redraw the map], then the court is going to drop the map, which I think is way outside their constitutional purview, he added.

The problem with that strategy? Austin has no appetite for it largely, state Republicans argue, because it would make no legal sense in the latest battle of the state's campaign to preserve its current maps.

Abbott has rebuffed the delegation calls for a special session, according to a Republican member of the Congressional delegation.And Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonon Thursday filed alegal advisory resolving any questions about where the state's leadership stand: "TheState does not intend to undertake redistricting in a special session," it said.

In March, a three-judge panel in San Antonio ruled Texas lawmakers in 2011 purposefully discriminated against blacks and Latinos in drawing the state's congressional map. They flagged particular violations in the 23rd Congressional District, represented by Will Hurd, R-Helotes; the 27th, represented byBlake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi; and the 35th, represented byLloyd Doggett, D-Austin.

In April, the same judges concluded the 2011 Texas Legislature intentionally diluted the clout of minority voters statewide in drawing a state House districts.

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With the 2018 elections looming, lawyers representing Texas and opponents are scheduled to return to San Antonio in July for a five-day trial concerning the states next set of maps.

For most of the state's current legislative session, Republicans in Austin have been reluctant to publicly discuss the court's scoldings let alone contemplate offering new maps.

State Rep. Cindy Burkett, a Sunnyvale Republican who chairs the House Committee on Redistricting, for instance, refused to call any hearings during the legislative session whether to probe the impact of the rulings or to discuss any of the seven bills, now dead, referred to her panel. (The committee hasnt met since 2013.)

That was despite loud calls from Democrats to try to fix the maps during the regular session, which ends on Monday.

State Rep. Eric Johnson, a Dallas Democrat and the committee's vice chair, said Wednesday he hadnt heard any talk about a special session for redistricting. Calling one would show bad faith that judges weren't likely to take seriously, he said.

The time to do this was now, when were in Austin and have a committee in place, he said. Not at the eleventh hour.

Nevertheless, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this week set off special session speculation among Texans in Washington.

The justices struck downtwo U.S. House districts in North Carolina, ruling that statelawmakers illegally packed African-American voters into them and minimized their statewide influence.

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The decision, some experts say, could affect political cartography in every statehouse particularly in the American south. It prompted the judges presiding over the Texas case to quickly ask the state whether it was willing to call a special session to redraw the Texas map.

To be sure, the Congressional delegation would like to keep the current lines. But its calls for a special session are rooted in fears that the map will not hold up in court.

And even those fears are not uniform within the delegation itself.

One attorney will tell you one thing, another attorney will tell you something different, said U.S. Rep.Bill Flores, R-Bryan. "Theres more confusion than consensus.

Even as a tax code overhaul and the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections dominated the news in Washington this week, it was redistricting that absorbed many of the Texans. But the Texas GOP delegation concerns are evolving into a national worry.

As President Donald Trumps approval ratings flag, control of the U.S. House increasingly appears up for grabs in the 2018 midterms. Republicans are counting every seat on the map, and the fear is that a newly drawn Texas seat will put even more seats into play.

According to onemember, a frantic callwas put out andGOP members of Congressfrom Texasmet at the Republican National Committee on Tuesday night for a presentation of an Armageddon map. Republican attorneys and at least one party official showed many in the delegation a potentialworst-case scenario if the 2018 Texas map isdrawn by the three-judge panel. This potential map could jeopardize as many as a half-dozen Texas GOP incumbents and create ripple effects on the lines of many others.

The presentation did much to deeply rattle several Republican delegation members, according to people who attended the meeting. The RNC declined repeated attempts to respond to requests for comment.

But some sources within the delegation emerged from the Tuesday night meeting dubious of the frantic tone.

Regardless, submitting a new map now would do nothing to bolster the state's position in court, Paxton's Thursday filing suggested.

The states lawyers argue for the status quo: That any court rulings on the 2011 boundaries should have no bearing on the coming elections because those maps were never used. Recent Texas elections have involved boundaries that the court quickly drew ahead of the 2012 election and the 2013 Legislature adopted.

Yet the states legal opponents argue lawmakers swift adoption of the temporary 2013 maps should not insulate them from what they call lingering discrimination created by the state's 2011 redistricting effort.

Additionally, Paxton states, "there is no reason to doubt" that any new Texas-drawn map would draw additional legal challenges ahead of the 2018 elections.

While the Texas Republicans in Congress are debating their next moves, the state'scongressional Democratsare mostly blas about the litigation. They have little control over the process and not much to lose, given that the current map so heavily favors House Republicans.

Among Democratic members of Congress who are most intimately involved with the partys efforts to take back control of the U.S. House, their ambitions for a new Texas map are far more scaled back than the GOPs worst fears. In the most bullish of Democratic conversations, those members suggested a gain of two or three Texas seats would be a good night for their party.

Doggett is the Democrat who's most likely to see changes to his own 35th District. Thelongtime Democrat frequently finds himself perpetually drawn into new districts. He shrugged off the whole notion that his lines could change once again.

Ill run wherever I have to run, he said.

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Fearing 2018 losses, Texas Republicans in Congress want special ... - Texas Tribune

New York Times

Republicans, Pushing Aside Trump's Budget, Find Few Alternatives New York Times WASHINGTON Congressional Republicans greeted President Trump's first full budget on Tuesday with open hesitation or outright hostility. But it was not clear that they could come up with an alternative that could win over conservatives and moderates ... Republicans give Trump's budget the cold shoulderThe Hill Trump budget faces criticism, indifference from some Senate RepublicansABC News Icy Reception to Trump Budget From Fellow RepublicansU.S. News & World Report Wichita Eagle -ThinkProgress -Business Insider -WhiteHouse.gov all 1,555 news articles »

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Republicans, Pushing Aside Trump's Budget, Find Few Alternatives - New York Times

GREAT FALLS, Mont. Republican Greg Gianfortes closing motivational speech to voters ahead of Thursdays special House election in Montana is the same thing GOP strategists are whispering in private: This race is closer than it should be.

Its a recurring nightmare of a pattern for Republicans around the country, as traditional GOP strongholds prove more difficult and expensive for the party to hold than it ever anticipated when President Donald Trump plucked House members like Ryan Zinke, the former Montana Republican now running the Interior Department, for his Cabinet. Gianforte is still favored to keep the seat red, but a state Trump carried by 20 percentage points last year became a battleground in the past few months.

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Democrat Rob Quist, a folk singer and first-time candidate, has raised more than $6 million for his campaign, including $1 million in the past week alone as energized Democratic donors pour online cash into political causes this year. Quist hopes that enthusiasm also contributes to an outsize turnout as it did in special elections in Kansas and Georgia earlier this year for the oddly scheduled Thursday election, happening just before a holiday weekend.

"I remember talking to people when it first started who said this was a slam dunk, Gianfortes it. And its not there anymore, said Jim Larson, the Montana Democratic Party chairman. It is a lot closer than people ever thought it would be.

Gianforte, a technology executive, has led consistently in polls for the special election, but Quist has narrowed that lead to single digits in recent weeks, according to private surveys. Gianforte has an edge, but its not going to be a slam dunk, said one national GOP strategist.

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Republicans have called on Vice President Mike Pence and Donald Trump Jr. to calm their nerves about turnout and prevent Democrats from having the only energized voting bloc in the special election. Both have rallied voters with Gianforte, and Pence recorded a get-out-the-vote robocall. Gianforte, who said little about Donald Trump when Gianforte ran for governor and lost in 2016, has cast himself as a willing and eager partner of the president this time around.

On Tuesday, surrounded by Trump stickers and some Trump hat-wearing supporters Gianforte said he was eager "to work with Donald Trump to drain the swamp and make America great again," invoking two of the president's campaign slogans. Pence's robocall may give another boost to Republican turnout efforts.

But the environment has changed since Trumps presidential win last fall. One senior Republican strategist warned that, based on the partys performance in special elections so far, if Republicans cannot come up with better candidates and better campaigns, this cycle is going to be even worse than anybody ever thought it could be.

The fact that we're talking about Montana a super red seat is amazing, said John Lapp, who led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee during the 2006 cycle. It's also amazing how much money Republicans have to pour into these seats to defend them. It's still a steep climb in Montana, but we know that the reaction there means that there's a tremendous amount of Democratic energy across the country, a tremendous amount of fundraising that will then feed into races that are much fairer fights."

Democrats hope the passage of House Republicans health care bill just three weeks before the election will put the wind at Quists back. It has been the subject of Quists closing TV ads, and he has called the plan devastating to Montana.

GOP outside groups have ensured that Republicans have a spending advantage, though, airing more than $7 million worth of TV ads, versus about $3 million from Democrats. House Majority PAC, Democrats main House outside group, on Tuesday added a last-minute $125,000 TV ad buy to the race, on top of $25,000 announced last week.

But those ads may have reached a point of diminishing returns in a state that prefers retail politics, said Matt Rosendale, the Republican state auditor.

"The airwaves are saturated, and when people see political commercials come on, they completely block it out. I think theres a lot of money wasted on it," Rosendale said. "Its a necessity in Montana to meet people. You have to be able to go out and meet with them, look them in the eye and answer difficult questions face-to-face."

Operatives in both parties privately grumble about the quality of their candidates, with each arguing their paths to victory might be clearer with a standard-bearer carrying a little less baggage.

Republicans acknowledge that Gianforte has flaws Democrats exploited mercilessly in last years gubernatorial race, likely cementing negative feelings about him from some voters. Gianforte is dogged by reports that he sued Montana to block access to a stream in front of his ranch, kicking up a public lands dispute that hits home with Montana voters and has probably followed him into this House race, said Jeff Essman, the states GOP party chairman.

Democrats, too, acknowledge that Quist isnt without his problems. Republican TV ads repeatedly attack Quists various personal financial problems, including "a defaulted loan, tax liens, collections, foreclosure notices. Republican groups dug into Quists medical records and questioned his musical performance at a nudist colony.

"I havent seen this kind of opposition research on both sides on a House race in a long time, said one Democratic strategist whos worked in the state. This is what you get when candidates are chosen in a nominating process and there's no vetting. Some people would say Quist is authentic, an outsider, a la Donald Trump, but Quist has a problematic record because he hasnt spent his career in politics being careful."

Quist called in his own big-name reinforcements to activate the Democratic base and cater to the populist streak in the state, as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders headlined a handful of rallies alongside Quist last weekend.

Its a gamble, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said, that could alienate some in the state, where Trump remains popular.

"Rob Quist is too liberal for Montana he is very liberal. Democrats who have won statewide in Montana tend to be moderate, and Quist is no moderate, said Daines, who campaigned alongside Gianforte in the final stretch of the race. Who did he parade across Montana this weekend? Bernie Sanders.

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Republicans: Montana special election 'closer than it should be' - Politico

(CNN)As Republicans try to find agreement within their ranks to repeal and replace Obamacare once and for all, there is one Obamacare-era issue that needs Congress' attention sooner rather than later.

On Monday, the Trump administration requested another three-month delay in a case over Obamacare subsidies known as cost sharing reduction payments -- government payments aimed to reduce deductibles and co-pays of low-income participants.

The payments, a pillar of the Affordable Care Act, have been controversial since they started, so much so that the House of Representatives sued the White House, arguing that the Obama administration couldn't lawfully make the payments to insurers because they weren't appropriated by Congress.

Now, however, congressional Republicans find themselves in a precarious political position. While the Trump administration has been making the payments, and will continue to do so, mixed messages from the White House -- including a Politico report last week that Trump personally told aides he wanted to stop the payments -- have insurers spooked that the subsidies' days may be numbered.

If the subsidies end, some insurers will likely try to pull out of Obamacare immediately. But just the uncertainty over the payments' future is a main reason why some carriers have already decided to exit the Obamacare market for 2018 and others have filed for big premium increases. Without the payments, Republicans could be blamed for a mass exodus of insurers from the Obamacare marketplace next year, potentially leaving many of their constituents without any options.

So Republicans, having put in the effort to fight Obamacare, now ironically say its time for Congress to step in and spend the money. Some Republicans say they are talking behind closed doors and publicly about how they can pass something in the short-term to stabilize the market.

"I've stated in the meetings and publicly, I'd be in support of doing something very quickly, short term to stabilize the insurance markets for 2018," said Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin. "This process dragged on longer than I would have liked it and in fairness to the insurance companies and even more importantly the American people, they need some certainty in terms of what's going to happen in 2018."

Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, said that she thinks there needs to be some kind of certainty for people who rely on the cost-sharing reduction payments.

"It's my understanding that the administration's asked for another stay of the court's decision," She said. "I'm not sure what that portends. I don't know whether that means that the administration is considering allowing those cost sharing subsidies to go forward in an attempt to stabilize the market and help low income people or what. I just don't know."

Collins added "It's my understanding that the House has not be interested in appropriating the funds. The problem is that if you don't have cost-sharing for people who are below 250 percent of the poverty level, then the insurance becomes far less useful to them because they can't afford the deductible or the co-pays."

Since the subsidies began, House Republicans have railed against the payments, and some Republicans fear allocating the money now could make the GOP look like they are trying to prop up Obamacare, a law they are actively trying to dismantle.

Making CSR payments in a separate bill could get in the way of repealing Obamacare all together.

"It's controversial," said Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.

Many Republicans asked about the payments rebuffed questions entirely.

"I'm still looking at it," Sen. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican said. "There are negotiations going on over the whole health care fix and I'll leave that to those that are involved."

"I have no thoughts," Rep. John Shimkus, a member of the House's Energy and Commerce Committee, told CNN when asked about whether Congress needs to appropriate the money now for the Obamacare subsidies.

But after not making the payments during the Obama administration, making them now could make Republicans look disingenuous.

Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina conservative and leader of the House Freedom Caucus said he would support Congress making the payments in the short term "as long as we're looking at Obamacare from a historical perspective."

"Then a smooth transition with CSR payments seems to be the most practical way to make sure we don't create a crisis for people on Main Street," Meadows said.

But he acknowledged the political risks of the situation.

"Part of it is that if you just put forth those payments and continue those payments without actually repealing Obamacare, you're reinforcing the very thing that you're campaigning against and so I think you want to make sure it doesn't send the narrative that you're supportive of Obamacare as much as you're trying to create a smooth transition," Meadows said.

CNN's Tami Luhby contributed to this report.

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Why some Republicans want to consider -- gasp -- funding Obamacare - CNN

Another day, another piece of news about the Republican Party's continued problems with young voters. Generally, bad news for Republicans with this group isn't shocking. But a new study shows that the slow bleeding that has occurred for more than a decade has seemingly accelerated, with half of the young Republicans who remain having wandered away from the party in the last 14 months.

A few weeks ago, I debunked the notion that younger voters would one day naturally drift back toward the GOP through the natural aging process that as time passed, young people would become more and more Republican.

Now, an incredible new study by the Pew Research Center shows that Republicans are not only failing to make gains with young people as time passes but are also shedding them at a rapid clip.

To gain this data, Pew conducted a panel study where the same set of voters were interviewed multiple times over the course of 14 months. In doing so, the Pew team was able to ask people what their party affiliation was and to see how often people changed their answer when reinterviewed months later. In general, Pew finds that most party identification is "sticky" and voters rarely budge from their party affiliation.

Except young Republicans.

It's been reported often and for many years that Republicans are losing younger people, but what is most shocking about the Pew study is the narrow window in which this wave of defections occurred. In the relatively short time frame of December 2015 to March 2017, nearly half of all young Republicans left their party at some point, with roughly a quarter bidding the GOP adieu for good.

No other group, by age or party, wavered so much or defected in such substantial numbers.

Let's think about where things stood in December 2015. By that time, Republicans had already had such epic and long-standing struggles with young people that I'd written a whole book about it. Additionally, Republicans had already had a bruising start to their primary season. Donald Trump was the top story in America, the center of every debate stage. At least four presidential primary debates had occurred on the GOP side.

The half of young Republicans who left the party were not ones who left in 2008 because of former President Barack Obama, or ones who left over Republican obstruction in Congress, or even ones who left over the emergence of President Trump as a front-runner in the GOP. By December 2015, those folks were long gone.

No, the half of young Republicans who wobbled or left the party altogether were die-hard enough to be on board with the GOP all the way through the moment that Trump sat well atop the primary polls.

What makes these figures even more striking is the stability of nearly every other age group within both parties. On the Democratic side, roughly three-quarters of their voters stuck with the Democratic Party through and through including those younger voters who supposedly felt so disillusioned with the Democratic Party over the treatment of Bernie Sanders.

The only other age group that shows anything close to the young Republican level of switching are Democrats on the younger end of the Baby Boomers, among whom a quarter shifted their views and 14 percent of whom left the party for good. These voters no doubt played a large role in the success of Trump in states and counties with many "Reagan Democrats" who were drawn to the GOP with Trump's message. In the short run, the tradeoff seems to have been worth it, at least for Trump, and the higher turnout levels among the Boomer generation made his victory possible.

But the new Pew data makes clear that Republicans' problems with young voters are not just about young independents breaking for Democrats at the ballot box or the increased energy and excitement among young Democrats who are enthusiastically signing up for #TheResistance. Even the Republican Party's own remaining young people show signs of unease, with their increased propensity to wobble or jump ship altogether.

Kristen Soltis Anderson is a columnist for The Washington Examiner and author of "The Selfie Vote."

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Time to panic? Young Republicans ditching GOP like never before - Washington Examiner