It's now Day 6 of the shutdown, and the Democratic minority leader has challenged the Republican House speaker to a televised debate on the impasse over reopening the federal government. President Donald Trump says federal workers are already being laid off, escalating an already tense situation with no mutual trust among Washington lawmakers. Leaders in both parties are betting public sentiment has swung their way, putting pressure on the other side to cave.
Meanwhile, a federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon, after a legal whirlwind that began hours earlier when the president mobilized California troops for Portland. The same judge had blocked him from using Oregon’s National Guard the day before. Trump has also moved to deploy 300 National Guard troops to Chicago as federal immigration agents adopt increasingly combative tactics in the city.
