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THE BIG DEAL–Democrats reject White House invitation for shutdown talks: No Democrats attended a lunch on Tuesday with President Trump focused on talks to end the government shutdown and fund a border wall, as the president’s attempt to force leaders back to the negotiating table fell flat.
{mosads}Trump invited several moderate House Democrats to the White House in an effort to undermine Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has refused to grant Trump his demand for $5.7 billion in wall funding. But the group turned down the invitation.
“Today, the president offered both Democrats and Republicans the chance to meet for lunch at the White House. Unfortunately, no Democrats will attend,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement ahead of the meeting. The Hill’s Scott Wong and Jordan Fabian tell us why.
- A group of nine House Republicans were scheduled to meet with the president, but Sanders said “it’s time for the Democrats to come to the table and make a deal.”
- Two of the GOP lawmakers, Reps. Rodney Davis (Ill.) and John Katko (N.Y.), have voted for Democratic bills to reopen government agencies.
- After the meeting ended, Republicans lambasted Democrats for refusing to attend in an attempt to pin blame on them for the shutdown.
- A Democratic congressional aide said the meeting appeared to be pulled together “haphazardly at the last minute.” Members didn’t receive invitations from the White House until in the late afternoon on Monday, and the invitations weren’t finished until late at night.
Which Dems declined?
- Reps. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) and Lou Correa (D-Calif.), two of the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, confirmed to The Hill they would not attend the 12:30 p.m. lunch meeting.
- The three other Democrats who rejected Trump’s lunch invite were Rep. Charlie Crist, the former Florida governor, Rep. David Scott (Ga.), and freshman Rep. Abigail Spanberger (Va.), who unseated conservative Republican Dave Brat last fall, according to White House sources.
What it means: Pelosi appears to have an airtight grip on her caucus 25 days into the longest shutdown in U.S. history, giving her substantial leverage in negotiations. Public opinion is increasingly drifting toward Democrats and against Trump and his border wall demand.
Even so, Trump has refused to support anything less than his full funding request, budging only on what material would be used to construct the eventual border barrier. Dems say they won’t back funding for any type of new wall or fencing but have agreed to boost spending on other border security measures.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that he and Pelosi hadn’t heard from Trump since he stormed out of a White House meeting with them and their GOP counterparts last week.
Meanwhile, House Democrats have continued to push standalone funding bills in an effort to build pressure on Trump to reopen parts of the federal government. They failed Tuesday to garner the two-thirds majority needed to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to provide funding to reopen the government through Feb. 1.
The bill, which went down 237-187, was brought to the floor in an effort to force GOP lawmakers to break with President Trump in his demand for border wall funding amid the partial government shutdown.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) introduced the measure on Monday along with a separate stopgap that would provide funding through Feb. 28, which is expected to come to the floor on Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has blocked the Democratic bills, calling the measures “pointless” because Trump won’t sign them.
Leaders nix recess: Senate and House leaders said Tuesday they will cancel the Martin Luther King Day recess unless there is a sudden resolution to the shutdown.
On tap tomorrow
- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, will give a speech on the panel’s agenda for 2019 at the Center for American Progress.
LEADING THE DAY
Treasury releases filing-season shutdown plan for IRS: The Treasury Department on Tuesday released its shutdown contingency plan for the IRS during the tax-filing season, less than two weeks before the IRS will start processing tax returns.
Under the filing season plan, significantly more IRS employees will be working than have been during the first few weeks of the shutdown. While only 12.5 percent of the agency’s roughly 80,000 employees were working under the non-filing season plan, 57.4 percent of the agency’s workforce will be working under the filing-season plan.
{mossecondads}Lawmakers and tax professionals have eagerly awaited the plan and have expressed concerns that the funding lapse could roil the upcoming filing season — the first that reflects changes to the tax code enacted by President Trump in 2017. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda explains here.
Senate advances measure bucking Trump on Russia sanctions: The Senate voted to advance legislation blocking President Trump’s plan to lift sanctions against three Russian companies despite an eleventh-hour effort by the administration to kill the bill.
Senators voted 57-42 to begin debating the resolution, with only a simple majority needed to get over the initial hurdle.
Though only a procedural vote, it’s the latest foreign policy break between the Trump administration and Senate Republicans, who have been wary of his warmer rhetoric toward Moscow.
It comes amid reports that the president has discussed pulling the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Hill’s Jordain Carney fills us in here.
GOOD TO KNOW
- A small, bipartisan group of House members on Tuesday introduced a bill that would allow federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts without penalty.
- Former PepsiCo. CEO Indra Nooyi is reportedly being considered by the White House to become the U.S. nominee to lead the World Bank.
- Orlando International Airport will host a food drive to help Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees working without a paycheck, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday filed fraud charges against nine individuals and firms that allegedly made more than $4.1 million in trades based on information stolen from the agency.
- U.S. airlines are warning Washington that a prolonged shutdown could do serious damage to the industry, with fewer government workers to keep flights safe and timely.
- And Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the ongoing partial government shutdown will cost the airline $25 million in revenue in January alone.
ODDS AND ENDS
- The White House spent roughly $2,900 on food from various fast food chains around the Washington, D.C., metro area on Monday to host Clemson University’s championship football team, according to an analysis from The Washington Post.