SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 News) – Now in day 19, this current shutdown is poised to become the longest in the history of our country.
The messages from President Trump and Democratic leaders couldn’t be farther apart.
But there is one thing they seem to have in common, a willingness to hunker down for the long haul.
Both sides are firmly planted in their stance on border security, possibly leading to a stalemate as we’ve never seen before.
“Hopefully, we can rise above partisan politics in order to support national security,” said President Trump.
“So how do we untangle this mess? Well, there’s an obvious solution. Separate the shutdown from arguments over border security,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D) New York.
Both hit prime time Tuesday night to make their pitch to the American people.
Jason Perry, the director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics says there is one clear takeaway.
“There’s not a single thing in the speech from the president or from the responses from the Democratic Party that gave any idea that this thing is going to end soon. In fact, I think it showed the difference between them being even bigger than many thought,” said Perry.
Perry says with no end in sight, he expects this to become the longest shutdown ever for the U.S. Government and says that comes with consequences.
“There are a lot of people out there that are not really in a position to really float their lives for a long period of time. Those people are going to be impacted, young children with resources from the federal government will start to be impacted too. The longer this goes on, the stronger and bigger the impact,” Perry said.
Perry says Republican lawmakers are united with the president on the need for border security, and that includes those from our delegation.
The longest shutdown to date was in 1996 when the government shutdown for 21 days.
