BORDER/CONGRESS/GOVERNMENT/IMMIGRATION/SPENDING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump said three times this afternoon that he must now decide whether to push for more funding for the border wall in December — toning down a threat he previously espoused with certainty…The president has for months been throwing around the idea of forcing a government shutdown to get Congress to allocate more cash to one of his main campaign promises and said less than a month ago that ‘we’ll do it right after the election.’ But Trump didn’t use the word ‘shutdown’ in that context today and indicated that he hasn’t made up his mind about forcing the issue when funding for the Department of Homeland Security and several other federal agencies runs out on Dec. 7. Fiscal 2019 began today…Trump noted that additional funding for the border wall was just signed into law last week, adding to the $1.6 billion already allocated.”
–Jennifer Scholtes and Sarah Ferris, “Trump waffles on forcing December fight over border wall funding,” Politico, October 1, 2018 2:04 pm