A new Congress has been sworn in and a new Speaker of the House is in place, but lawmakers and the White House are no closer to a deal to fully fund the government. The partial government shutdown is now 14 days old. Newly elected Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will head to the White House today to meet with President Trump, who says he won't sign any spending package unless it includes billions of additional dollars for a border wall. Pelosi and her new majority in the House aren't budging. Late Wednesday night, the House passed two bills to fully fund the government but did not include any additional funds for the wall. The Hill: House approves legislation to reopen the government, defying Trump's opposition. The Washington Post: Speaker secures her place as most powerful woman in politics. The White House announced before those votes that the president will not sign the legislation, should it reach his desk. "The Administration is committed to working with the Congress to reopen lapsed agencies, but cannot accept legislation that provides unnecessary funding for wasteful programs while ignoring the Nation's urgent border security needs." — Office of Management and Budget Of course, there's no chance the House bill makes it to Trump's desk because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the upper chamber, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, will not take it up. "Let's not waste the time. Let's not get off on the wrong foot with House Democrats using their platform to produce political statements rather than serious solutions." — McConnell Pelosi challenged the GOP-led Senate to break with Trump. "What we're asking the Republicans in the Senate to do is to take 'yes' for an answer. We are sending them back exactly, word for word, what they have passed. Why would they not do that? Is it because the president won't sign it? Did they not hear about the coequal branch of government, and that we the Congress send the president legislation and he can choose to sign or not?" — Pelosi 
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There are cracks showing in McConnell's coalition, as lawmakers begin feeling pressure to come to an agreement. On Thursday, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who is up for reelection in 2020, became the first GOP senator to call for an end to the impasse without leveraging funds for a border wall. "I think we should pass a continuing resolution to get the government back open. The Senate has done it last Congress, we should do it again today." – Gardner The New York Times: McConnell faces pressure from GOP to stop avoiding shutdown fight. The Hill: Senators warm to immigration deal as shutdown solution. So, who will blink first? And when will it happen? Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, warned the shutdown showdown could drag on for "months and months." That seems unlikely, as real-world tales of hardship and public disapproval pile up in hometown news reports across the country. Some government workers, including at the Department of Homeland Security and at branches of the Armed Forces, such as the Coast Guard, will begin missing paychecks in the middle of January. That won't go over well, and neither would delays in tax refunds. The Wall Street Journal: In a shutdown, IRS will take your money, but give no refunds. The Hill: Pain is coming from shutdown, except for Trump and Democrats. Pelosi has invited Trump to give the State of the Union address on Jan. 29. That could be seen as a working deadline, as it seems unlikely that the president or Congress will want the national address to take place against the backdrop of a shutdown. Polling over who bears the blame for the shutdown is sparse, but the principals on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue will be keeping close tabs on the data as negotiations continue. YouGov: Poll shows it's becoming Trump's shutdown. HuffPost: Americans give everyone negative marks for government shutdown. | 
