We're hours from a partial shutdown over President Trump's demand for border wall funding, and Republicans have just a week to figure this out before Nancy Pelosi reclaims the speaker gavel.
Driving the news: Someone will have to cave, but Trump said today he is "totally prepared for a very long shutdown."
- In the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing forward on a vote with border funding, but he doesn't seem to have the votes.
- The House passed a bill with border cash last night. If the stalemate goes until January, Democrats are in the driver seat.
- Trump sent VP Mike Pence, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and son-in-law Jared Kushner to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The big picture: "The shutdown, scheduled for midnight, would disrupt government operations and leave hundreds of thousands of federal workers furloughed or forced to work without pay just days before Christmas," the AP reports.
Between the lines: Trump has resumed his longtime campaign to get McConnell to abandon the filibuster. Don't expect this to happen, Axios' Caitlin Owens emails.
- Senate institutionalists believe that the filibuster makes the Senate work the way it’s supposed to — in a slow, bipartisan manner.
- Republicans will be wary of blowing the filibuster now when Democrats are about to take the House and won’t pass any Republican priorities. It also could backfire if and when Democrats eventually retake the Senate.
What's next: The Senate vote is going at a crawl because members have to fly back from their home states. (Hawaii's Brian Schatz flew 11 hours to Hawaii, then back, to vote no.)...