The Note: Missing middle prolongs spending standoff

By RICK KLEIN and MARYALICE PARKS Jan 7, 2019, 6:01 AM ET

There was a moment, late last year, where cooler heads were prevailing and a shutdown was going to be avoided.

But since President Donald Trump reversed himself and chose a shutdown over a spending agreement that didn't fund the border wall, both parties have found themselves captive to the hotter arguments inside their own ranks.

Still now, with no end in sight to the standoff, the president appears poised to undermine negotiations -- led by the vice president -- with his own unpredictability and with his threat to order a wall built on his own if Congress doesn't act.

Democrats don't view moving from a "wall" to a "fence" as a meaningful concession. Their new House majority, meanwhile, is in danger of being defined by calls for impeachment and holding firm against a Trump demand.

Missing in all of this is a meaningful middle. A few Republican senators have said they want to pass spending bills without funding the wall, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sees little incentive to move without the president's blessing.

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