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2019年1月31日 星期四

On The Money: Trump digs in on money for wall | Pelosi open to new border 'infrastructure' but no wall | GOP pushes Trump to stay out of negotiations | Trump optimistic about China trade deal

 
 
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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."
 
 

THE HILL EVENT: Join The Hill Events for Boundless: Building a 5G World on Wednesday, Feb. 6th featuring Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and John Curtis (R-Utah). Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack and Hill.TV's Jamal Simmons will sit down with our guests for a series of conversations on the impact of 5G on all aspects of society. RSVP here.

 
 

LEADING THE DAY

Trump says no talk of extending deadline in Chinese trade talks: President Trump said Thursday there's been no talk of extending a March deadline to reach an agreement with China to avoid imposing increased tariffs on Chinese goods.

However, the president expressed optimism about the chances of reaching a satisfactory deal following talks with a top Beijing representative at the White House.

"I don't think we have to extend it," Trump said of the March 1 deadline while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He.

"Now, at a certain point... it's the largest transaction ever made, to be perfectly straight. We have to get this put on paper at some point if we agree. There are some points that we don't agree to yet but I think we will agree," he continued.

"I think when [Chinese President] Xi and myself meet, every point will be agreed to." The Hill's Brett Samuels explains here

 

Weekly jobless claims spike to highest level since September 2017: Jobless claims last week jumped to the highest level since the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.

Roughly 253,000 Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits in the week ending Jan. 26, an increase of 53,000 from the previous week.

The spike brought the weekly figures to their highest mark since Sept. 30, 2017 and drove the four-week moving average of unemployment filings to 220,250.

  • U.S. economic activity tends to slow down after the holiday season as consumers cut back on spending and employers shed seasonal workers.
  • But the increase in jobless claims also came near the end of a record-long government shutdown that's projected to cost the economy billions of dollars.

 

GOOD TO KNOW 

  • Tech companies are increasingly bullish on building a "smart wall," which would incorporate new technologies to beef up security on the southern border. Democrats and Trump have both discussed the idea.
  • President Trump is considering nominating former pizza magnate and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve Board, according to Bloomberg News.
  • The United States is investigating whether trade between Venezuela and Turkey violates sanctions against Venezuela and plans to act on any violations, according to a new report.
  • Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is mulling a 2020 Democratic presidential bid, offered a bill on Thursday to expand the estate tax as progressive lawmakers discuss ways to increase taxes on the wealthy.
  • Robert Lighthizer, the United States Trade Representative who is leading high-level negotiations with China, acknowledged Thursday that President Trump's announcement on Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans was a "surprise."
  • A government watchdog says it is investigating the Trump administration's process for making changes to labor rules.

 

ODDS AND ENDS

 
 
 
 
 
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