BORDER/CONGRESS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump is keeping everyone in suspense as he considers whether to declare a national emergency to fund his border wall. Republican support for an emergency declaration is growing in some corners of the party, as GOP leaders and White House officials view it as a way out of a shutdown fight they’re losing. Others are unsure, viewing it as the kind of end run around Congress for which the Republican Party criticized former President Barack Obama for doing. And many key Republicans are in the dark ahead of Trump’s Oval Office address Tuesday [1-8-19], as Congress and the White House limp through a government shutdown now in its 18th day. But House Republicans didn’t even ask Vice President Mike Pence about the potential emergency order when he and other top administration officials briefed them on Tuesday night. Instead, GOP lawmakers were told that food stamps would continue to be paid out despite the shutdown, and the IRS will still issue tax refunds, all part of the White House’s effort to minimize the impact of the budget impasse.”
–Eliana Johnson, Burgess Everett and Heather Caygle, “GOP in the dark as Trump weighs emergency declaration,” Politico, January 8, 2019 7:53 pm