Happy Thursday and welcome back to On The Money. I'm Sylvan Lane, and here's your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. See something I missed? Let me know at slane@thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N. Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@thehill.com, vneedham@thehill.com, njagoda@thehill.com and nelis@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @VickofTheHill, @NJagoda and @NivElis. THE BIG DEAL—Trump insists no shutdown deal without wall money: Here we go again. President Trump said Thursday he will not accept a deal to avert another government shutdown without money for his long-desired border wall, pushing back on Democrats who stressed their opposition to a wall. "No. Because if there's no wall, it doesn't work," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked if he could accept border measures other than a wall. Trump's comments show he remains at an impasse with Democrats over his demand for a wall with a second shutdown looming in just over two weeks. They also raise the likelihood he may circumvent Congress in a bid to build the wall on his own. The Hill's Jordan Fabian explains why. - The president said he would wait to see if Congress can come up with an agreement before the Feb. 15 funding deadline before he decides whether to declare a national emergency at the southern border.
- But Trump did not sound optimistic negotiators would produce a bill he could support, accusing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of "playing games" and saying "I don't think they're going to make a deal."
What comes next: Pelosi said earlier Thursday that Democrats remain adamantly opposed to wall funding, but could provide money for new fencing and other barriers in a spending bill. "There's not going to be any wall money in the legislation," Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing in the Capitol. "However, if they have some suggestions about certain localities where technology, some infrastructure [is appropriate] ... that's part of the negotiation." The snag: While Trump has previously said he would be open to calling structures along the border "steel slats" or a "barrier," he said Thursday he would return to demanding a wall. "Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!" Trump tweeted. Trump also warned in a tweet that Republicans on the panel might be "wasting their time." The bottom line: This all boils down to one fairly semantic but politically crucial test: Whether both sides can strike a deal that allows Trump to say he got his wall and Democrats to say he caved and accepted uncontroversial border security upgrades. It's hard to say where that middle ground is right now, but it might depend on Trump letting lawmakers work out the finer points. GOP wants room to talk: Republican senators say Trump should stick to the sidelines and let the bipartisan group of appropriators known for their ability to cut deals get to work. - "I think it would be more worthwhile and effective if the president would allow some space for these negotiations to occur and not be doing commentary at this point," said GOP Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
- Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the No. 2 Senate Republican, said he hoped Trump's skepticism was "wrong" and that the president was just "trying to set expectations low."
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), asked about Trump's belief that Republicans are wasting their time, said she was trying to "urge success" and that the conference committee should "be empowered to do their work."
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