Rebutting shutdown critics, President Trump's budget office sent Congress a memo Friday arguing that history shows he has the right to move money around to pay the troops. • The memo cites presidents from George Washington in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion to John F. Kennedy in creating the Peace Corps in 1961.

Why it matters: By paying the military while other federal workers go without, Trump is eliminating a major pressure point on him to negotiate. • The government has been shut down since Oct. 1, as Senate Democrats refuse to back a no-strings-attached measure to fund the government. • Democrats say they want Trump to agree to permanently extend subsidies for some Affordable Care Act enrollees. • The shutdown has accelerated the executive branch's effort to grab more power than e

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