MSNBC reporter Garrett Haake surveyed the scene on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and concluded that between President Donald Trump's insistence on $5 billion for a border wall, and the inability and unwillingness of Congress to deliver said funding, that there was "no visible urgency" to keep the government running, with outgoing Republicans "stumbling" on their way out the door.
Haake said the president was offering a "false choice of a wall or open borders", bringing any progress to avoid a shutdown to a halt by refusing to respond to compromises offered by the Democrats.
"As for what's going on up here on Capitol Hill, just about nothing," Haake said. "There is no visible urgency whatsoever to solve this problem, as Republicans here are stumbling towards what would be a fairly embarrassing end to Republican dominance of both houses on Capitol Hill."
Republicans "see this very much as the president's fight," he continued, saying that Democrats and Republicans alike were willing to work with the White House. "The president largely stands alone in his vigor for this wall."
"The language around the wall continues to be the bugaboo for President Trump and not so much for Republican members of the house and Senate who want to go home for Christmas, who want to keep the government open and their constituents getting paid," Haake said. "Right now it's essentially a waiting game here with not very much time left to go."
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