White House Watch: Trump and the Shutdown

Shutdown Watch—My colleague Haley Byrd has the latest on the possible government shutdown. The nub: the House of Representatives passed a short-term spending resolution Thursday evening, kicking the issue over to the Senate, where things look . . . dicey. Late Thursday night, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion to close debate on the budget resolution, and the Senate will reconvene Friday morning to vote on that motion.

With Republican leadership in Congress scrambling to find enough votes, President Trump on Thursday speculated that Democrats intended to shut down the government to distract from the success of the Republican tax reform bill passed last December.

“I believe the Democrats want a shutdown to get off the subject of the tax cuts because they worked so well,” Trump said in a speech near Pittsburgh. “Nobody thought, including the Democrats, it could work this well. They’ve been so good, I think that the Democrats would like to see a shutdown.”

Trump appeared in Pennsylvania to talk up the strong economy and the GOP’s new tax law—“how it’s going to expand opportunities by lowering the business tax rate and bring back jobs to the United States,” a White House official explained prior to the talk.

Thursday morning, however, Trump muddied the waters when he tweeted that he was heading to Pennsylvania to support a congressional candidate:

Since the president’s speech was slated as an official event, rather than as a campaign event, the tweet caused headaches for White House staffers, who rushed to assure reporters that the event would be focused on policy rather than politics.

For the most part, Trump stuck to that script, although he did offer words of encouragement for Saccone, saying, “We need more Republicans to continue our already successful agenda.”

“He’s a great guy—loves this area, loves this country,” Trump said. “But actually, this is about tax cuts. This is about economic reform. But Rick is a great guy. He’s a special person.”

On the President’s Schedule—Trump will address the March for Life, which will take place Friday on the National Mall, via a live satellite broadcast.

Photo of the Day

Supporters of President Trump gathered in the 18th Congressional District to listen to the president speak at a rally at H&K Equipment, a rental and sales company for specialized material handling solutions on January 18, 2018 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Lede of the Day— “Meet Chris Christie, former New Jersey governor and current nobody at Newark Liberty International Airport,” reports Bloomberg’s Elise Young. “The two-term Republican, who left office on Jan. 16, was blocked from a VIP entrance he had used for eight years, and directed to stand in Transportation Security Administration screening lines at Terminal B like anyone else, according to a person familiar with the incident.”

The White House’s infrastructure legislative framework should be coming out any day now, right? The administration had discussed releasing its priorities on roads, bridges, and the like sometime after the new year, perhaps as early as January. But the month is winding down, and there’s no sign of any such proposal.

“We are still finalizing the rollout plans for the president’s infrastructure initiative,” says a White House official. “No dates have been settled on yet.”

Must-Read of the Day—“The 29 Stages Of A Twitterstorm In 2018”

Too Good to Check

Song of the Day—“Run Thru” by My Morning Jacket