Senator Lindsey Graham is known as a
close confident of President Trump # REUTERS
Senator Lindsey Graham, who is close to Mr Trump, said
a limited re-opening of a few weeks would allow talks to resume between
Republicans and Democrats.
The partial government shutdown has now become the
longest in US history.
It has left hundreds of thousands of public workers
unpaid and government offices closed.
President Trump is refusing to approve a budget unless
it includes $5.7bn (£4.5bn) for a wall along the Mexican border - a key
campaign pledge, which the president said that Mexico would pay for.
Democrats have rejected his request for funding to
build it and say they will not negotiate further until the government is
reopened.
Mr Trump has raised the stakes by threatening to
declare a national emergency and circumvent Congress and get the money he
wants.
What did Lindsey Graham suggest?
Mr Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
said he had urged the president on Sunday to temporarily reopen government to
get negotiations started again.
He
said if talks still failed to agree the funding, the White House could then
declare a national emergency.
"Before he pulls the plug on the legislative
option, and I think we are almost there, I would urge them to open up the
government for a short period of time, like three weeks, before he pulls the
plug (to) see if we can get a deal," Mr Graham told Fox News Sunday.
He said Mr Trump had told him: "Let's make a
deal, then open up the government."
How far apart are the two sides?
Correspondents say pressure is building on Mr Trump as
the dispute drags on, with opinion polls showing more Americans blame him for
the shutdown than they do the Democrats.
But on Sunday Mr Trump was continuing to blame his
opponents for the standoff.
"I'm in the White House, waiting. The Democrats
are everywhere but Washington as people await their pay. They are having fun
and not even talking!" he tweeted.
The damage done to our Country from a badly broken Border - Drugs, Crime and so much that is bad - is far greater than a Shutdown, which the Dems can easily fix as soon as they come back to Washington!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2019
Several
senior Democrats had been due to travel to Puerto Rico over the weekend for a
winter retreat that also included a visit to a fundraising performance of the
musical Hamilton
The deputy chief of staff
for Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Drew Hammill, responded by tweeting:
"Speaker Pelosi has been in DC all weekend working from the Capitol."
How are workers affected?
On Monday the partial shutdown enters its 24th day.
About a quarter of the federal government is out of
operation and last Friday 800,000 employees missed their first salaries of the
year.
Government
workers have staged rallies in US cities calling for an end to the shutdown
#GETTY IMAGES
About 350,000 of those workers are furloughed - a type
of temporary lay-off - but the rest are expected to continue to work.
Thousands have reportedly applied for unemployment
benefits amid the financial uncertainty.
Over the weekend, part of Miami International airport
was closed because of a shortage of Transportation Security Administration
(TSA) agents caused by the shutdown.
The agents are "essential" federal workers
and expected to work but many are calling in sick in protest at the situation,
the Miami Herald reports.
On Sunday evening, Houston Bush airport stopped
security screening at one of its terminals, due to a shortage of staff, and
directed passengers to other terminals for security checks.
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