Good Thursday morning. I'm Anna Palmer. And welcome to your Politico Playbook Audio Briefing, sponsored by DeVita.

And I'm Jake Sherman. Welcome to the January Mess edition. Here's where things stand when it comes to government funding in a massive immigration deal.

Most Democrats have been saying that they want a deal to fix DACA to be part of a government funding package.

But multiple Republicans have told us there's

no way a DACA package can be ready by next week. Senator John Cornyn has publicly said an agreement

can be in place, but floor action by next week is unlikely. A reminder, the government shuts down

in eight days. This could be a big problem for Democrats, especially House Democrats who have

said their vote to fund the government

is contingent on a DACA deal. Remember, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority

Leader Chuck Schumer have been saying this since September. Of course, if an agreement is firm

and in place, and is to the liking of many Democrats, maybe they take a leap of faith and vote to fund the

government without a DACA deal on the president's desk. So the big question is, without a deal,

how does Congress keep the government open without Democrats? It's a question that even top

Republicans couldn't answer yesterday. Things are complicated at the moment. Congress is trying

to get a budget cap deal to increase spending by roughly $100 billion, not exactly what congressional Republicans campaigned on. That's not done yet, and Congress heads out of town in the next day until Tuesday. So it's feasible Congress will have to pass another short-term spending bill. Can they do that? Maybe not. A mix of Republican defense hawks and budget writers are

bone tired of short-term spending plans. Democrats could be peeved they don't have a DACA deal.

Could the government shut down? Yeah, sure. Overall, it's always unlikely that the government

shuts down, but it's probably as likely now as ever. By the way, President Trump has said the

following things. He'd sign a DACA bill

that Congress comes up with, and he'll not sign a DACA bill unless it also allows for building a

border wall with Mexico. There's also a real risk that Congress comes up with something that Trump

won't sign. His mixed messages are a problem for Capitol Hill under a time crunch. By the way,

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