Good Tuesday morning, I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to your political playbook audio briefing, sponsored by UC Davis.

And I'm Anna Palmer. There's an amazing split screen going on today. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are in New York at the UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile, Washington is completely and totally focused on Graham Cassidy, the final gasp of an Obamacare appeal.

Trump will speak today at the U.N., the AP reports, that the America First President is set to argue that individual nations should act in their own self-interest, but also rally when facing a common threat like North Korea.

At the same time, Pence will meet with the EU's high representative before shuttling back to Washington for the Senate GOP lunch. He then turns around and goes back to New York for a diplomatic reception hosted by Trump and the First Lady. Here's her thing stand on health care. Birchis effort and Jen Habrickon report that Graham Cassidy is gaining steam, and we think that's true as well. The bill still remains short of 50 votes, and that's the game in the Senate.

You've got to get 50 votes.

Vice President Mike Pence could break the logjam at 50 votes.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is a no, and he's loudly lobbying senators to stand with him.

Maine Senator Susan Collins is an expected no.

Three no votes would kill this bill.

The two report that Mike Lee is warming to the legislation.

The big question marks remain John McCain and Lisa Murkowski.

HHS Secretary Tom Price and CMS Administrator Seema Verma are also expected to huddle with Senate Republicans today.

Time is short.

The Senate's ability to pass this bill using a simple majority expires September 30th,

11 days from now. Here's the stark political reality. This is the last chance to do something on

health care. That could prompt people to pony up and vote for the bill, but at the same time,

you can't say you voted for the bill with hopes that the other chamber will improve it. There

is already talk about using next year's reconciliation

to improve the health care system, but that would screw up any plans on tax reform.

Speaking of tax reform, the Wall Street Journal has a piece out on how Senate Republicans

are considering writing a budget that would allow for up to $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the

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