1/ Negotiations to avoid another partial government shutdown fell apart on Sunday. Democrats are demanding a limit on the number of arrests of undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as well as a cap the number of beds in ICE detention centers to force the Trump administration to focus on detaining undocumented immigrants with criminal records instead of using indiscriminate deportation raids in local communities without valid reason. To avoid another partial shutdown – set to begin Saturday – the House and Senate must pass identical spending bills that Trump would then need to sign into law by Friday night. The 17 House and Senate negotiators had hoped to reach a deal by Monday to give lawmakers enough time to approve the deal in both chambers before the deadline. The only things being discussed at the moment are a temporary Homeland Security spending bill or a possible national emergency declaration by Trump. (Politico / New York Times / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Reuters / The Guardian)

2/ Mick Mulvaney “absolutely cannot� rule out the possibility of another partial government shutdown if Congress doesn’t include funding for a border wall. The acting White House chief of staff blamed the uncertainty on Democrats and that “You cannot take a shutdown off the table, and you cannot take $5.7 billion off the table.� (NBC News)

3/ Trump spent about 50% of his time last week in unstructured “Executive Time,� as more of his personal schedules leaked. Hours earlier, Mick Mulvaney said he expected to catch whoever leaked Trump’s personal schedule to the media and “have a resolution on that this week.� Trump responded to his leaked schedules by tweeted that “When the term Executive Time is used. I am generally working, not relaxing.� Trump is believed to use his executive time watching TV, tweeting, calling friends, and reading newspapers. Trump added: “I probably work more hours than almost any past President.� (Axios / USA Today)

4/ The average tax refund is down about 8% under the first full year of the Republican-led over...