CRISIS/GOP/NATIONAL DEBT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump stunned Republicans on Wednesday [9-6-17] when he overrode pleas from GOP congressional leaders and sided with Democrats on a proposal to attach emergency aid for Hurricane Harvey victims to measures to keep the government funded and its borrowing limit suspended until mid-December.
Mr. Trump’s decision to strike a deal with Democrats upended the partisan alliances that have long set the boundaries of congressional policy-making, opening up new possibilities for bipartisan deal-making if Democrats can again persuade Mr. Trump to bypass Republican leaders.
For months, Mr. Trump had suggested that he might work with Democrats if Republicans couldn’t advance his legislative priorities, but he always pulled back at the last minute. The Republican president’s move Wednesday raised questions about whether he will now turn to Democrats to reach deals on tax reform and immigration.
The startling deal Wednesday, reached after a meeting between Mr. Trump and congressional leaders in the Oval Office, was driven by an urge to present a unified government at a time of crisis, as millions of Americans braced for Hurricane Irma’s wrath and others struggled to rebuild after Harvey, GOP leaders said.
If approved by Congress, the agreement would defer the threat of a partial government shutdown and a default on the country’s debt until Dec. 15 and dispatch the first $7.85 billion installment of Harvey relief, clearing the three most pressing items from the crowded September legislative agenda.”
-Kristina Peterson, Siobhan Hughes, and Louise Radnofsky, “Trump Stuns GOP by Dealing With Democrats on Debt, Harvey Aid,” The Wall Street Journal online, Sept. 6, 2017 09:53pm