The Democratic party will be moving back into the control room in the House of Representatives.

Congress may commemorate the return to split government with a partial shutdown. The feud over construction of a border wall looks like it will not be resolved in time. It could be the first of many political dramas in 2019.

The debate over funding for the wall is theater, make no mistake.

Securing the border may be a worthwhile effort. However, the $5 billion the President is requesting is but a small down payment on what is needed to build a wall along the full length of the border.

And Republicans have had total control of Congress under Trump’s presidency so far, meaning if they really wanted to get serious about a wall, they would have done it by now.

Most likely the shutdown will not amount to much more than some additional paid time off for certain federal employees. It will, however, set the tone for the next couple of years. Washington runs on strife.

Republicans in the House will probably remember they care about deficits when they are out of power again. Expect them to start wailing about spending when Congress and President Donald Trump start wrangling over next year’s budget.

The President will almost certainly make concessions and jack up deficit spending in order to get Democratic support for some of his other agenda items. Next year’s budget deficit could be a whopper -- particularly if there is an infrastructure program with bipartisan support.

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