Senior White House officials have told Playbook the following things:
“A shutdown is inevitable because the president will hold strong; he wants a seven-bill omnibus with $1.6 billion in border security and he’ll declare that a victory; he wants a short-term spending bill to interrupt the beginnings of the Democratic House; he will not accept a short-term spending bill; he’ll see what the Senate produces. All of these answers have come from the same institution: the Trump White House.”
“As Friday draws closer and closer, a stopgap spending bill is becoming more and more likely. The Senate is likely to decide on this today… The House is basically just watching at this point. There is some concern that attendance will stink this week but the GOP whip operation is somewhat confident that they will have people in town through Friday. The real problem will be if Trump continues to sit on his hands, some House Republicans will decide they aren’t going to walk a plank for a president who can’t say what he supports, senior Republicans tell us.”
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