Tipsheet: Trump, Dems dig-in as shutdown heads into second week

View in your browser     Trump, Dems dig-in as shutdown heads into second week BY NIV ELIS President Trump and congressional Democrats are digging deeper into their trenches over funding for a wall on the Mexican border, prolonging a government shutdown that seems almost certain to head into the next year. Both the House and Senate on Thursday conducted brief, minutes-long pro forma sessions before quickly gaveling out. Read the full story here     Shutdown to drag into next week — and next year BY JULIEGRACE BRUFKE The partial government shutdown will drag into next week after the Senate adjourned until Monday and House GOP leaders said they did not expect a vote this week to reopen the government. Read the full story here     North Carolina lawmakers override veto of elections bill BY MAX GREENWOOD The North Carolina General Assembly voted on Thursday to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of an elections law bill, a move that could have repercussions for the contested House race in the state's 9th District. Read the full story here     The Memo: Trump puts isolationism at center stage BY NIALL STANAGE President Trump’s embrace of isolationism has been a hallmark of his presidency. Read the full story here       EPA braces to run out of funds by week's end as shutdown continues BY MIRANDA GREEN   A week after the government failed to agree on a final funding bill, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to follow suit and shut down. Read the full story here     Giuliani backtracks: Trump will not give Mueller any more written answers THE HILL STAFF Rudy Giuliani, who is representing President Trump in the Russia investigation, is walking back on comments in which he said that Trump “might agree” to give more written answers to questions from special counsel Robert Mueller. Read the full story here     Poll: More Americans blame Trump for shutdown than Democrats BY ARIS FOLLEY More Americans blame President Trump than Democrats for the six-day partial government shutdown, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos pollreleased on Thursday. Read the full story here     Trump bragged to troops about 10 percent pay raise that they have not received BY MORGAN GSTALTER President Trump on Wednesday bragged to troops in Iraq that he had given them a 10 percent pay raise, calling it “one of the largest pay raises” the troops have ever received and calling it the first hike in more than a decade. Read the full story here     FDA chief calls for meeting with CEOs of e-cigarette companies amid crackdown BY NATHANIEL WEIXEL The head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday called for a meeting with executives from top e-cigarette companies to discuss their commitments to help stop a rise in teen vaping. Read the full story here     Giuliani says he would ‘love’ to see Trump declassify Russia docs BY TESS BONN Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that he would "love" to see President Trump declassify documents on the Russia investigation "if it could be done properly." Read the full story here     Another migrant child death, we need a border truth commission BY ELIZABETH OGLESBY Opinion | Americans awoke on Christmas morning to hear that another Guatemalan child, 8-year-old Felipe Alonzo-Gómez, died in the custody of the Border Patrol on Christmas Eve. This follows the death on Dec. 8 of 7-year-old asylum seeker Jakelin Caal Maquín, also while in Border Patrol custody. Caal Maquin's body was laid to rest in Guatemala on Christmas Day.  Read the full story here     Oh, the lengths media will go to sour Trump's Christmas visit to troops BY JOE CONCHA Opinion | Forget bias. Forget animus. Forget missing a self-awareness gene. And forget attempts to outdo yesterday's hyperbole with uber-hyperbole. Because, when it comes to coverage of the Trump administration and the figure at the top of it, what many in our media have become is utterly, tediously predictable.  Read the full story here     CNN: Trump buoyed by Wall Street's gains after rough December BY KEVIN LIPTAK President Donald Trump been buoyed by two days of market boosts and made an enthusiastic round of phone calls to advisers from Air Force One on his way back from Iraq after markets closed sharply higher Wednesday, people familiar with the matter say. Read the full story here     The Washington Post: Trump’s visit to Iraq prompts concerns about politicization of military BY PAUL SONNE and PHILIP RUCKER A day after President Trump’s surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red “Make America Great Again” hats for the troops. Read the full story here     Bloomberg: Powell has lot to lose and little to gain in sit-down with Trump BY CHRISTOPHER CONDON and JEANNA SMIALEK Of all the holiday gatherings Jerome Powell gets invited to, a sit-down in the Oval Office might be one of the last he’d want to attend. Read the full story here     The New York Times: New York sky turns bright blue after transformer explosion BY MATT STEVENS, RICK ROJAS and JACEY FORTIN There was a boom; then a hum. The lights flickered. A giant plume of smoke filled the New York City sky, and turned it blue. Read the full story here     ABC News: US troop withdrawal from Syria could take several months BY LUIS MARTINEZ A week after President Trump's surprising announcement that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. military is drafting a withdrawal plan that could have U.S. troops leaving over several months, according to U.S. officials, who stressed that no final decisions have been made about the planned pace of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Read the full story here   Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up for The Hill Tipsheet       Forward this Tipsheet     You might like         Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  |  Email to a friend  |  Sign Up for Other Newsletters   The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 ©2016 Capitol Hill Publishing Corp., a subsidiary of News Communications, Inc.