BORDER/DEMS/GOVERNMENT/NANCY PELOSI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump said late Wednesday [1-23-19] that he would deliver his State of the Union address once the federal government reopens, capping a day of brinkmanship with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who told the president that he was not welcome to deliver the speech in the House chamber while the government is partly closed…The president’s seeming capitulation came even as House Democratic leaders said they were prepared to give him a substantial sum of money for border security — perhaps even the $5.7 billion he has requested — but not for a wall and not until he agreed to reopen the government. That figure is roughly double what Democrats had previously approved. On the other end of the Capitol, in the Republican-controlled Senate, lawmakers prepared for crucial votes Thursday on two competing proposals — one backed by Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans, the other by Democrats — that would bring an end to the partial shutdown, though neither might garner the 60 votes necessary for passage.”
–Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Trump Says He’ll Delay Speech Until After Shutdown, as Democrats Draft Border Security Plan,” The New York Times online, January 23, 2019