White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News Tuesday that there are "other ways" to get the $5 billion in border wall funding Trump has demanded from Congress, and that "at the end of the day, we don’t want to shut down the government, we want to shut down the border.”

Why it matters: This is a much softer stance than President Trump's statement last week when he claimed he was "proud to shut down the government" over the border wall. Lawmakers have until Friday to figure out a funding plan before the government shuts down, and some House members, especially those who aren't returning next year, have already left town.