BORDER/CONGRESS/ELECTION/IMMIGRATION/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Trump renewed a threat to shut down the government unless Congress provides money for a wall at the southern border and enacts new curbs on immigration, reviving a battle he said last month should wait until Republicans gained more solid majorities after the November elections…The threat adds a new headache for congressional Republican leaders two months before government funding expires on Sept. 30. It also stands as a rebuff to Republicans who have privately pleaded with the president to avoid triggering a shutdown before the mid-term elections. Republican leaders fear their party would be blamed for shutting down the government, costing them votes during a year in which the party risks losing control of the House and is defending a narrow majority of 51 out of 100 seats in the Senate…A White House official expressed surprise at the president’s shutdown threat. The timing would be damaging, this person said, coming shortly before midterm elections in which Republicans are vying to retain control of the House. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) have been working to pass spending bills for months in a concerted effort to avoid a government shutdown just weeks before the midterm election.”
-Siobhan Hughes and Peter Nicholas, “Trump Again Threatens to Shut Down Government,” The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2018 12:22 pm