Friday marks the first full week of the partial federal government shutdown, with no budget deal in sight.
Many national monuments, historic sites and parks are shuttered, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been furloughed or are working without pay.
“There have been no signs of actual talks, no progress, and it looks like this Congress may end without actually meeting again,” said Lisa Desjardins, Capitol Hill correspondent for the “PBS NewsHour.”
The Senate is expected to meet Jan. 2 – the day before the 116th Congress is seated.
“So it seems unlikely we’ll have a shutdown deal by [Jan. 2],” she said.
But even with a new Congress, President Donald Trump said he is adamant about his request for $5 billion for a border wall.
“Whatever it takes. I mean, we’re going to have a wall. We’re going to have safety. We need safety,” Trump said Wednesday when asked how long he anticipates the shutdown to continue.
“We need a wall, so when you say how long is it going to take? When are they going to say that we need border security? When are the Democrats going to say – don’t forget, the Democrats all agreed that you need a wall until I wanted it. Once I wanted it, they didn’t agree,” he said.
Desjardins joins us to talk about the political turmoil in and outside of Washington, D.C.
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