“The U.S. posted the widest November budget deficit on record as spending doubled revenue,” Bloomberg reports.

“The U.S. ran the largest deficit in six years in fiscal 2018, the first full year of Donald Trump’s presidency when his Republican party enacted a tax-cut package and raised federal spending for the military and other priorities. The measures have added to the growing federal deficit, which is forecast to push past $1 trillion by 2020 when the U.S. next holds presidential elections.”

Politico: “The House is now poised to leave town Thursday for five days without offering a clue to how it would avoid a crippling funding lapse for roughly a dozen agencies.”

“Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has cautioned members that they may need to come back Monday and Tuesday for a last-minute session on funding bills. But even Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, the House GOP‘s spending chief, said Wednesday he was in the dark.”

“The trick in Washington has always been to make sure a government shutdown is pinned on the other guy. President Trump is the first to ever pin one on himself,” the New York Times reports.

“In a new twist on the old game of shutdown politics dating to the 1990s, Mr. Trump was essentially goaded on Tuesday by Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer into embracing ownership of a shutdown yet to come if Democrats do not accede to his request for $5 billion to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.”

Said Trump: “I will take the mantle. I’m not going to blame you for it. The last time you shut it down, it didn’t work. I will take the mantle of shutting down, and I’m going to shut it down for border security.”

A smiling Mr. Schumer seemed more than satisfied with Mr. Trump’s retort: “O.K., fair enough.”

Playbook: “The House is planning — at the moment — to take up a $5 billion wall funding bill. GOP leadership believes they’ll be able to get 218 on their own — Democrats are obviously not going to chip in to pass this. Republicans say rebuking Nancy Pelosi — who said the House can’t pass it — is enough to snap their crowd into action. We are a bit more skeptical they’ll be able to get this through. For example: 44 lawmakers were out yesterday. Twenty of them are people who will not be returning next Congress.”

“If the House somehow manages to pass it, the Senate will then fail to get 60 votes on that bill, which could — in theory — reset this process by the end of this week.”

“A shutdown remains very likely . It just doesn’t seem like a deal is in the works, or close to being thought about.”

“There are 13 days between the funding deadline and when Democrats take over the House. Pelosio could begin the 116th Congress by passing a stopgap to end a partial shutdown. At that point, it would fly through the Senate and Trump would have to sign it. There are plenty of Democrats and Republicans who think this is the most likely scenario at this moment.”

Just hours after an explosive meeting with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, President Trump said that he would happily shut down the government over his desired border wall because he believes it is an issue that he will “win… every single time,” the Daily Beast reports.

Said Trump: “Chuck’s problem is that, you know, when we last closed down, that was his idea. Honestly, he got killed. He doesn’t want to own it. I said rather than us debating who is owning it, I’ll take it.”

He added: “If we close down the country, I’ll take it because we’re closing it down for border security and I think I win that every single time.”

Playbook: “The two sides are absolutely nowhere… Absent a massive reversal by Trump, it looks like government is headed for a shutdown late this month. There seems to be a recognition in the Capitol that this shutdown could last from Dec. 21 through to Jan. 3, when the new Congress is seated.”

Also: “This probably helps Pelosi internally… She went toe to toe with the president on live television.”

ProPublica: “Had the billions in budget reductions occurred all at once, with tens of thousands of auditors, collectors and customer service representatives streaming out of government buildings in a single day, the collapse of the IRS might have gotten more attention. But there have been no mass layoffs or dramatic announcements. Instead, it’s taken eight years to bring the agency that funds the government this low. Over time, the IRS has slowly transformed, one employee departure at a time.”

“The result is a bureaucracy on life support and tens of billions in lost government revenue. ProPublica estimates a toll of at least $18 billion every year, but the true cost could easily run tens of billions of dollars higher.”

“The cuts are depleting the staff members who help ensure that taxpayers pay what they owe. As of last year, the IRS had 9,510 auditors. That’s down a third from 2010. The last time the IRS had fewer than 10,000 revenue agents was 1953, when the economy was a seventh of its current size. And the IRS is still shrinking. Almost a third of its remaining employees will be eligible to retire in the next year, and with morale plummeting, many of them will.”

“We’ve had limited success in dealing with this President. His word isn’t good. Within 48 hours he reverses himself. It’s very difficult to enter into a long-term agreement.”

— Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), quoted by Politico, on negotiations to avoid a government shutdown.

Jonathan Swan: On Tuesday at 11:30 am, President Trump plans to meet with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to see if they can cut a deal to keep the government open.”

“Over the past two days, we’ve emailed and spoken to more than a dozen Democrats and Republicans in close touch with leadership. None were optimistic that Tuesday’s meeting could yield a durable deal. The problem is simple: Trump wants $5 billion for his border wall, and Pelosi and Schumer don’t want to give it to him.”

“Especially not Pelosi, who won’t even commit to the $1.6 billion Schumer has already offered. She has offered a one-year funding extension at current levels ($1.3 billion for border security).”

“President Trump has told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to submit a $750 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2020, in a reversal from his pledge to trim defense spending,” Politico reports.

“The $750 billion figure emerged from a meeting Tuesday at the White House among Trump, Mattis and the Republican chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, both people said.”

Daily Beast: “Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s aides and advisers have tried to convince him of the importance of tackling the national debt.”

“Sources close to the president say he has repeatedly shrugged it off, implying that he doesn’t have to worry about the money owed to America’s creditors—currently about $21 trillion—because he won’t be around to shoulder the blame when it becomes even more untenable.”

Playbook: “Democratic Hill leaders appear likely to support a two-week government funding bill, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. This timeline puts the funding fight up against Christmas. An announcement could come as soon as this afternoon.”