Congress continues to stand at an impasse as a partial government shutdown may be in the works. The White House had originally been insisting that Congress provide $5 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall - the White House now says that President Trump is willing to compromise on that number.
That prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call on Congress to pass a new border funding offer - a $1.6 billion Homeland Security spending bill, with 1 billion unspent funds that Pres. Trump could use on immigration policies.
However, Democrats did not accept the deal.
The looming threat of a partial shutdown is one that several government officials are trying to avoid.
"I don't think that I know anybody in the House or Senate that wants a shutdown; we'll be back in session on Wednesday and hopefully we'll get this taken care of so we don't have a shutdown," said Rep. Bob Latta of Ohio's 5th Congressional District.
Ohio Sen. Rob Portman says that while border security is vital - a shutdown is not; and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown does not approve of the losses that may happen if the government were to shut down.
"We need a secure border and I think that that ought to be our focus over the next week, we shouldn't shut down the government, I think that's a bad idea but we should try to figure out how to pass legislation for the Department of Homeland Security that has funding for walls in some areas, in some of the urban and city areas, and some kind of fencing and vehicle barriers in others," said Sen. Portman.
"There are literally tens of thousands of FBI agents, border patrol people, and customs inspectors and officials that will either be laid off or work at no pay during a government shutdown and that tells you how irresponsible all this is," said Sen. Brown.
The deadline to avoid the shutdown is Friday, December 21st, at midnight.
