Trump After Dark: Closing Time edition

Maybe, maybe not.

With a little more than 24 hours to go before government funding runs out, it’s still not clear if President Donald Trump is about to preside over his first government shutdown. The House passed a short-term funding bill tonight, which included a six-year renewal of a popular children’s health insurance program, overcoming internal squabbles.


Across, the Capitol, the Senate was a different story, POLITICO’s John Bresnahan, Rachael Bade and Burgess Everett report .

“The plan's prospects in the Senate look dicey at best. Some GOP lawmakers said they intend to vote against it, arguing that repeated short-term funding measures harm the military. And a sizable bloc of Democrats have also come out in opposition because it does not address the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants at threat of being deported.”

Meanwhile, White House aides already had a scapegoat ready, should a shutdown materialize: Cable TV.

Per POLITICO’s Eliana Johnson and Burgess Everett, President Trump threw off negotiations after watching a segment on Fox and Friends and an interview with White House chief of staff John Kelly on the network — and tweeting about it.

“The president, with his tweet, increased the likelihood of a government shutdown with the push of a button, sending Republican congressional leaders, already scrambling for votes, into chaos, and White House staff careening to correct the record.”

POLITICO Playbook newsletter Sign up today to receive the #1-rated newsletter in politics Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Elsewhere in President Trump’s orbit:

DEAR JOHN TWEET: President Trump announced , via Twitter, that contra what White House chief of staff John Kelly said, he would build a wall and that his position has “never changed.”

NO FINANCIAL PROTECTION: Mick Mulvaney, the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, requested no new funding for CFPB — even though it has just a fraction of its last request in the bank.

BE CDC-ING YOU: The head of the CDC hasn’t talked to Congress seven months into her tenure, because of numerous financial conflicts of interests that still haven’t been resolved.

BUSY WORK: State Department employees are frustrated by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s extension of a push to get through mountains of Freedom of Information Act requests.

ON THE DACA-ET: The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to offer a ruling on President Trump’s right to end DACA.

APPLE OF HIS EYE: President Trump personally thanked Apple’s CEO after it announced it would invest billions of dollars in the United States.

There you have it. You’re caught up on the Trump administration. TGIT.

