BORDER/CONGRESS/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/WALL: “President Donald Trump on Wednesday [1-30-19] warned lawmakers beginning negotiations to avert another government shutdown that they are ‘wasting their time’ if they are not discussing construction of a physical barrier along the nation’s southern border, a long-standing demand of the president’s. A 17-member bipartisan committee made up of lawmakers from both houses of Congress is set to meet for the first time Wednesday afternoon to hash out the contours of a border security package that can pass both chambers of Congress while still meeting the president’s demands. Fresh off the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Trump has signaled that he is prepared to shut down the government again if the bipartisan committee fails to craft a deal that satisfies his border security demands…While Democrats have shown an openness to the idea of appropriating money to build fencing or a different kind of barrier along parts of the border, they have continued to reject Trump’s demands for a border wall.”
–Caitlin Oprysko, “Trump: Border security talks a waste of time if they don’t include a ‘wall or physical barrier’,” Politico, January 30, 2019 8:15 am