With time dwindling before a new Congress is sworn in, Donald Trump has not budged in his demand for billions in funding for a border wall, narrowing prospects for a government shutdown to end immediately when the legislature reconvenes. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives when they is sworn in on 3 January. Through the weekend, Trump stuck to his strategy of trying to foist blame for the shutdown, now in its ninth day, on the opposition party, noting on Twitter on Saturday that his border wall plan has failed to gain the support it needs: of at least 10 Democrats in the Senate.
