AP Photo The lost quarter

THE LOST QUARTER -- Barring a miracle, PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP will get through one third of his first year in the White House without a single major legislative accomplishment. The first 100 days are all but done. VP MIKE PENCE’S shuttle diplomacy -- meeting behind closed doors with House conservatives and other GOP factions -- has not yielded anything resembling a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare.

FOR ALL THE TALK about a big infrastructure package and tax reform, the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress hasn’t been able to deliver a single big-ticket legislative achievement, including their nearly decade-old pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The president’s legislative influence is supposed to be at its height in the first days of an administration. To show just how unrealistically ambitious the Trump team was coming into the year, WaPo’s Dan Balz reports Trump aides thought they would be able to repeal Obamacare by Feb. 24. (Balz’s story http://wapo.st/2oBLEKA)


HOW TO GET ON TRACK, per several high-level GOP aides in the Capitol: In future legislative battles, the White House would be well served to put out a framework for what it would like to see in legislation, and let Congress write a package to fit those guidelines. Top Republican officials on Capitol Hill have left conversations with the White House confused about what they are trying to achieve. Their advice: stake out a clear position, and force lawmakers in Congress to come along.

TRUMP’S FINE-TUNED MACHINE -- RACHAEL BADE and JOSH DAWSEY -- “Pence’s Obamacare diplomacy fails to yield a deal”: “The White House’s latest last-ditch effort to save the House GOP’s Obamacare replacement bill hit a wall Tuesday night, as conservative and moderate Republicans met and realized they had different understandings of the changes sought by top Trump administration officials. Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus say Vice President Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus and budget director Mick Mulvaney sought to win their votes by offering a repeal of major Obamacare regulations during a Monday night meeting.

“But moderates who met with the same Trump officials hours before were told the changes wouldn’t be as far-reaching. The discrepancy became increasingly apparent throughout the day Tuesday, according to multiple sources across the spectrum of the House Republican Conference. A late-night huddle with Pence and the leaders of all the GOP caucuses in the basement of the Capitol failed to clarify the issue, leaving Hill insiders speculating whether the White House offered two different potential deals — or lawmakers selectively heard what they wanted.” http://politi.co/2nD7aKs