DC Update: The Calm Between the Storms?

Government funding was restored last Friday for a limited time; the government will remain open - and most importantly, funded – through February 15th. Over the next few weeks a select bipartisan and bicameral group is responsible for hammering out a compromise that will provide long term stability in government funding and some sort of border wall deal.  This conference committee has nine Democrats and eight Republicans.

Republicans include Senators Richard Shelby of Alabama, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, John Hoeven of North Dakota and Roy Blunt of Missouri as well as Representatives Kay Granger of Texas, Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Tom Graves of Georgia and Steven Palazzo of Mississippi. Democrats include Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Jon Tester of Montana as well as Representatives Nita Lowey of New York, Lucille Roybal-Allard of California, David Price of North Carolina, Barbara Lee of California, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Pete Aguilar of California. President Trump is widely expected to declare a state of emergency on February 16th should no compromise be reached, which would theoretically enable him to use already appropriated funds to begin construction, although even some Republicans have vowed to oppose this move, and it will likely be tied up in the courts for some time.