All 17 members of the group appointed to work out a compromise on border-security funding are on the Appropriations Committee in either the House or the Senate. The group will be led by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Nita Lowey, D., N.Y., and its ranks include the panel’s top Republican, Kay Granger of Texas.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R., Ala., and its top Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, are also members, as are the lawmakers who run the appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security in each chamber: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R., W.Va., and Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D., Calif.

Several lawmakers who have been deeply enmeshed in previous immigration negotiations were also appointed, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D., Ill., and Rep. Pete Aguilar, D., Calif. Sen. John Hoeven, R., N.D., was involved in brokering a key border-security provision in a sweeping overhaul of the immigration system that passed the Senate in 2013, but fizzled in the House. Read Full Story

• The Washington Times: U.S. Tracking 3 Migrant Caravans, One With 12,000 People
• The Hill: Some Dems Float Idea of Primary Challenge for Ocasio-Cortez
• Washington Examiner: Trey Gowdy: South Carolina Is ‘Not Kamala Harris, AOC Territory’
• Townhall: Kamala Harris Wants to Gut Private Health Insurance
• PJ Media: West Virginia, Montana, Arizona Debate Using State Money to Help Build Border Wall

Grassroots Republicans are sticking with President Donald Trump as an historic partial shutdown of the federal government continues with no end in sight amid a partisan spat over immigration.

That was the consensus report from Republican National Committee members Wednesday as they gathered from around the country for an annual winter business meeting. In interviews, they said committed Republicans in their communities back Trump and his demand for billions in border wall funding in exchange for re-opening the government. Democrats are refusing, insisting Trump end the shutdown before they agree to negotiate on immigration policy.

“Among the grassroots Republicans that I know, they’re right behind the president. They don’t want him to give in at all. The money he’s asking for, for the wall, is pocket change. It’s lunch money,” Peter Goldberg, the RNC committeeman from Alaska, told the Washington Examiner.

“The Democrats are not willing to negotiate,” added Glenn McCall, the RNC committeeman from South Carolina. Read Full Story at the Washington Examiner

• The Washington Times: Trump Reverses, Agrees to Pelosi’s SOTU Delay
• The Hill: GOP Seeks to Chip Away at Dem Unity With Shutdown Votes
• Law and Crime: Fmr Trump Aide Caputo: ‘Bogus’ Collusion Theory Started Because Hillary Clinton ‘Was So Embarrassed by Losing’
• The Washington Free Beacon: Second Amendment Foundation on SCOTUS Accepting Gun Case: ‘This Is Really Important’
• The Daily Caller: West Virginia Gov Jim Justice Tells Democrats to Grow Up and Come to the Table On Immigration

President Trump said Tuesday that the students at Covington Catholic High School have become “symbols of Fake News” after being accused by the press of intimidating a Native American man at a rally in Washington, D.C.

Trump also slammed the media for its coverage of the encounter, which many said showed student Nick Sandmann and his peers mocking Nathan Phillips, the Native American man, in front of the Lincoln Memorial after the March for Life.

“Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good — maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream!” Trump wrote. 

Read Full Story at the Washington Examiner

• Boston Herald: Three Hard-Left Women Are Recipe for Dem Disaster in 2020
• The Hill: Supreme Court Allows Transgender Military Ban To Be Enforced
• The Washington Times: Senate Immigration Bill Includes Border Wall Money, Detention Beds, Border Agents
• The Washington Free Beacon: Pro-Life Leaders Gather in Georgetown After March for Life
• The Daily Caller: Huckabee: Pelosi Doesn’t Care About Dreamers and Furloughed Workers