Government shutdown becomes the third-longest ever

Alex Edelman | AFP | Getty Images

GP: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (2nd-R), D-CA, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (2nd-L), D-NY, Rep. Steny Hoyer (L), D-MD, and Senator Dick Durbin (R), D-IL, exit the White House after meeting with US president Donald Trump to discuss the partial government shutdown, January 4, 2019 in Washigton, DC.

President Donald Trump said he was prepared to continue the partial government shutdown for “months or even years” — and as the closure drags into its third week, he’s getting closer to making good on that threat.

The ongoing stalemate between Trump and congressional Democrats over a spending package to fund nine government agencies entered its 17th day Monday, making this shutdown the third-longest on record. And with Congress out of session until Tuesday, it’s safe to assume that frozen negotiations are unlikely to thaw before then.

Trump has dug in on his demand that any deal to end the partial shutdown must include more than $5 billion toward the construction of a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have refused to allocate any money for a wall.

Trump now says he wants a “steel barrier,” rather than the concrete wall he has repeatedly called for. “I think we’re probably talking about steel because I really feel the other side feels better about it,” Trump explained to reporters Friday.

The amount requested would only fund about 234 miles of the nearly 2,000-mile border, according to a letter sent to Capitol Hill by the Office of Management and Budget on Sunday.

In prior negotiations with Trump, Democrats had agreed to some border wall funding as part of an ultimately scuttled deal to protect the so-called Dreamers, people who were illegally brought to the U.S. as children. But while the leaders of the party have met multiple times in the past week with Trump and his administration, they say they won’t validate Trump’s “temper tantrum” over a border wall this time around.

Here’s what you need to know to stay up-to-date on the shutdown.