1/24/2019

BORDER/DEMS/GOP/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Sometimes out of failure comes success. Or at least progress. That may be what happened on the floor of the Senate on Thursday [1-24-19] afternoon when both a Republican bill and a Democratic one designed to reopen the government failed to garner the 60 votes they needed to move forward to a final vote. Both failures were not equal, however. Only one Democrat — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin — voted for the Republican bill. Six Republicans voted for the Democratic bill, which would simply reopen the government to create a short period in which to negotiate on border funding. The willingness of that half-dozen Republicans to publicly break with Trump — even though it was abundantly clear their votes wouldn’t help the Democratic proposal pass — could well be the moment that breaks this logjam that has kept the government partially closed for the last 34 days. Shortly after the votes happened, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer huddled in an attempt to forge a way forward. And Trump himself seemed open to the idea of a compromise.”

Chris Cillizza, “Is the shutdown (almost) over?,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, January 24, 2019 10:46 pm