Divided Government Begins

Playbook: “The new Congress begins tomorrow, and leaders are going to the White House this afternoon for a border security briefing with President Trump and DHS officials. This is now tied for the sixth-longest shutdown in U.S. history.”

“The House — which will be run by Nancy Pelosi as of tomorrow afternoon — will pass its stopgap spending bill by 7 p.m. tomorrow evening. It will fund most of the government through September, but kick DHS funding to February. Dems will make the argument that they’re governing while the White House is sowing chaos. Both of these items individually had support from the Senate.”

“The calculus by the president and many of his allies is that Pelosi is in a jam, and cannot sustain a no-money-for-a-border-wall position.”

“But Pelosi gains from this fight internally. The border security money in the stopgap — $1.3 billion — is plenty for most Democrats. Since most Democrats have ruled out a DACA-for-border-wall deal, we struggle to see what deal can be had at the moment.”