Immigration deal distant as leaders try to avert shutdown

A deal between President Donald Trump and Congress to protect young immigrants from deportation remained distant Tuesday, as House Republicans leaders turned their attention to building support for a backup plan: a stopgap funding bill to stave off the threat of an election-year shutdown. The focus on a budget Plan B - another temporary measure that would buy time for more talks - was the latest sign of a breakdown in bipartisan deal-making in a Congress that has struggled to find common ground even on areas of broad agreement.

In first year, Trump scores lowest averagea

President Donald Trump speaks at the Conversations with the Women of America at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. WASHINGTON - This is a record not to be coveted: Donald Trump is wrapping up a year in office with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first year.

Trump Ends First Year With Lowest Average Approval Rating

This is a record not to be coveted: Donald Trump is wrapping up a year in office with the lowest average approval rating of any elected president in his first term. That's according to polling by Gallup, which shows that Trump has averaged just a 39 percent approval rating since his inauguration.

Shutdown looms as Republicans seek short-term spending deal for government

Chances of a government shutdown grew Monday as Republicans concluded that they would be unable to pass a long-term spending bill by the Friday deadline. GOP leaders are now turning to a short-term funding measure in hopes of keeping agencies open while talks continue, but Democratic leaders say they are unlikely to support any deal that does not protect young illegal immigrants.

Democrats decree death in the swamp for the Dreamers

Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and their Democratic followers laid a careful trap for their Republican tormentors, and then fell in it. The Republican leadership can keep them from climbing out if they're smart and show a little courage.

Chuck Hagel: Trump a an embarrassmenta

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called President Donald Trump "an embarrassment" and said he "is doing great damage to our country internationally" in a newspaper interview Saturday. Hagel's remarks come amid uproar over Trump's reported remarks during a closed-door immigration meeting with lawmakers last week, during which he is said to have called certain African countries "shitholes."

The New York Times List of Donald Trump’s “Racist” Quotes Is Garbage

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s efforts to bring black and white America together, the New York Times has chosen to stoke arguments over race by amassing a collection of allegedly racist quotes by Donald Trump. The piece is titled: Donald Trump's Racism:The Definitive List .

U.S. forced to renew DACA permits as furor over Trump’s immigration slur persists

The Trump administration, under court order, said it would resume taking applications to renew temporary protections from deportation for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, as the standoff between the president and Congress over the program's future intensified Sunday. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Saturday it will accept renewal applications for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Trump says program to protect ‘Dreamers’ is ‘probably dead’

President Donald Trump said Sunday that a program that protects immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children is "probably dead," casting a cloud over already tenuous negotiations just days before a deadline on a government funding deal that Democrats have tied to immigration. At issue is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program created by President Barack Obama to shield hundreds of thousands of these individuals, known as "Dreamers," from deportation.

WikiLeaks informer Chelsea Manning files to run for US Senate

Chelsea Manning, the former US Army soldier who was jailed for passing thousands of government documents to WikiLeaks exposing American military abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, has filed to run for the US Senate seat in Maryland, RT reports. Manning, who had her 35-year sentence commuted by former President Barack Obama in May last year, declared her intention to run with the Federal Election Commission on January 5. She will run as a Democrat.

Q and A: David Frum on America’s ‘Trumpocracy’

In his new book Trumpocracy, the Toronto native and former George W. Bush speech writer talks about how Trump is fundamentally damaging the U.S. government: "There are a lot of stops on the train line to bad before you get to Hitler Station." Frum felt "sick" when he spent time in the building near the end of Barack Obama's presidency.