Senate Republicans will dine with President Donald Trump today, a clear sign that the government shutdown isn’t ending on Day 21.
This doesn’t sound like a strategy session by a party fretting about the state of play.
“My sense is it’s social. The Democrats are clear about what it takes to reopen the government, so there’s really nothing for us to discuss ourselves other than to have a nice lunch,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Some invitations might have been lost in the mail: “I don’t think I was on the invite list,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told us on Monday, a few days after Trump criticized him (Paul also opposes the House stopgap funding bill).
Democrats said the GOP-only outing doesn’t augur good things for a bipartisan solution: “I don’t think so, do you?” quipped Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.