Here’s what you need to know.
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up .)
The Democratic Party takes control of the House this week, representing the first taste of a divided government, with the Senate and White House under Republican control.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, who is likely to be elected speaker on Thursday, said her first order of business would be reopening the government, part of which has been shut for 12 days after a spending impasse over funding for a border wall. Ms. Pelosi has said the wall can’t be part of any deal.
President Trump has invited congressional leaders of both parties to a briefing on border security today. It would be Democratic leaders’ first visit to the White House since Dec. 11, when the president said he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security.”
Yesterday: American border officers used tear gas to drive away about 150 migrants trying to cross the border from Mexico, the authorities said.
The Daily: Today’s episode discusses what Democrats plan to do with their new House majority.
Kim Jong-un said on Tuesday that he was willing to hold a second summit meeting with President Trump, but he added that if international sanctions weren’t lifted, the North would “have no choice” but to return to nuclear confrontation .
“We will not make nuclear weapons and we will not proliferate nuclear weapons,” Mr. Kim said during a New Year’s Day address. But he added that it “won’t be good” if the U. S. doesn’t make “corresponding measures.”
News analysis: Mr. Kim has essentially returned to where things stood when Mr. Trump took office, indicating that their meeting in Singapore in June altered the optics of their relationship more than the reality. Read more from our national security correspondent.
The former vice president is expected to reveal early this year whether he plans to make a third bid for the presidency.
In the two years since leaving office, Mr. Biden has made millions of dollars through a book deal and selective speaking engagements. But by setting tight restrictions on such activities, he appears to be trying to prevent a backlash like the one Hillary Clinton experienced in 2016 for earning millions by speaking to private groups. Our reporters detailed the decisions that position Mr. Biden as a Democratic contender in 2020.
Catch up: Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, entered the 2020 presidential race on Monday, becoming the first major candidate in what is likely to be a crowded primary.
Explainer: Yes, 2019 just started, but Democrats are already looking ahead to 2020. We look at the questions facing the party as it prepares to confront President Trump.
Notable: Mitt Romney, the incoming senator from Utah and a former Republican presidential nominee, said in an op-ed essay in The Washington Post that Mr.
