The Note: House GOP turns to legacy mode amid unfinished business

Will the shutdown matter if there’s a standing ovation across the street?

By
Rick Klein
 and
MaryAlice Parks
December 19, 2018, 6:08 AM ET
6 min read

By RICK KLEIN and MARYALICE PARKS

The TAKE with Rick Klein

Will the shutdown matter if there’s a standing ovation across the street?

House Speaker Paul Ryan delivers his farewell address at the Library of Congress Wednesday. His office is rolling out a video series commemorating the passage of last year’s tax cut -- the biggest legislative achievement of the GOP’s eight-year run controlling the House.

Back on the governing front, funding for a swath of the federal government is set to expire on Friday. Republican leaders can’t put together the votes that President Donald Trump told House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi last week would come together “very easily.”

The main plan to keep the money flowing involves giving Trump a “slush fund” where he could claim his border wall will be paid for. The tax cut, meanwhile, isn’t propping up stumbling stock markets -- and is contributing to record-smashing deficits, as the GOP is set to hand the gavel over to the Democrats.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/white-house-backing-off-trumps-billion-border-wall/story?id=59885961

House Republicans’ final days in power involve far more self-congratulations than introspection about how the majority was lost. Their legacy appears likely to include some significant unfinished business -- and goals long-since abandoned.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

Be it in a personal house or the House of Representatives, budgets are a statement of priorities. So, let’s put this funding fight in context.

Of course, the potential for a partial government shutdown was first spurred by the president digging in on a request for $5 billion to construct a new wall with "artistically designed steel slats" on the southern U.S.-Mexico border.

Though he backed off that request Tuesday, Republicans on the Hill were still unclear about next steps. Senators seemed confident a shutdown could still be avoided, but only if the president settled for a much lower $1.3 billion already allocated for border security and upgraded construction.

By comparison, $5 billion is roughly the same amount that NASA’s spends on its current space operations.

On Tuesday in Washington, too, the president discussed school safety and education reform. In contrast to his requests for budget increases, the White House earlier in the year had proposed, for example, an $8 billion or 12 percent reduction in funding to the Department of Education for 2019.

The TIP with Meghan Keneally

Martha McSally lost the battle, though she’s won a war. Now she’s going to have to get used to fighting -- again, and again.

The outgoing Congresswoman who is known for her love of militaristic campaign slogans is back in the thick of it after being appointed to fill the late-Sen. John McCain's seat.

Sen. Jon Kyl announced last week that he would be stepping down from his interim role, and while McSally has been at the top of speculative lists for months, some thought her loss to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the race to fill Sen. Jeff Flake's seat could have dented her chances.

On Tuesday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey pulled McSally back into the fray. He noted that Sinema will be sworn in first, making her the state's senior senator -- in an effort to "respect the will of the voters" who chose Sinema over McSally in November.

McSally said Tuesday that "as I now deploy to the Senate," she's looking forward to working with Sinema "just like we did in the House."

Unlike Sinema, McSally will have to tackle two more elections in the next four years. The first will come in 2020, when the special election for McCain's seat is held, and then in 2022, when the seat is up for re-election. Sinema's next election will be in 2024, which will mark the fifth time in the past decade that Arizonans will be asked to vote for a senator.

THE PLAYLIST

ABC News' "Start Here" Podcast. Wednesday morning’s episode features ABC News Senior National correspondent Terry Moran, who brings us the latest on budget negotiations as a partial government shutdown looms. And, ABC News’ James Gordon Meek and Katherine Faulders recap a dramatic day in court for former national security adviser Michael Flynn -- they explain why his sentencing was delayed. http://apple.co/2HPocUL

ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" Podcast. Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley joins the “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Wednesday to talk about his recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. He will also talk about the 2020 presidential campaign and his timeline for making a decision. Join ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and guest host ABC News Capitol Hill correspondent Mary Bruce. https://apple.co/21V9721

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch will testify before the House Judiciary and Oversight committees on Capitol Hill at 10 a.m.
  • Secretary of Defense James Mattis will host Vice President Mike Pence at the Pentagon at 10:30 a.m.
  • President Donald Trump will have lunch with Secretary of State Pompeo at the White House at 12:30 p.m.
  • Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, will announce actions to intervene on behalf of the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill at 12:30 p.m.
  • House Speaker Paul Ryan will deliver his farewell address at the Library of Congress at 2 p.m.
  • Senate Veterans Affairs and House Veterans Affairs committees will hold a joint hearing with Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and other officials on Capitol Hill at 2 p.m.
  • Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference in Washington at 2:30 p.m.
  • The president and first lady Melania Trump will participate in a Christmas receptions at the White House at 5:15 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m.

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