In a political world where government shutdowns have become commonplace, lawmakers from both parties have never quite been here before.

And pressure is mounting. Friday will mark the first day that federal workers won’t receive a paycheck. Transportation Security Administration agents have been calling out sick at higher rates since the shutdown began, and furloughed federal aviation-safety inspectors are holding up signs at airports warning passengers that their airplane might not have been properly inspected. If the shutdown continues after February, some 38 million American food-stamp recipients could be at risk of going hungry.

This, in a nutshell, is where we are: After Trump’s highly anticipated Oval Office address on Tuesday, which yielded no new arguments for the border wall, and his two fruitless negotiating meetings with Republican senators and Democratic leadership on Wednesday, the terms of the shutdown debate remain stagnant.

The partial shuttering of the federal government has furloughed 380,000 federal workers and forced 420,000 to work without pay, and it doesn’t seem likely to end soon: Trump has not budged on his demands for $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall, and neither have Democrats in their refusal to offer it.

House Democrats, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passed legislation last week to fund most of the government through the end of September and the Department of Homeland Security through February 8, but without including money for a border wall. McConnell has pledged not to bring the legislation to a vote unless Trump indicates that he will sign it, making anything that passes the House, at this point, essentially moot.

While the House legislation likely won’t be taken up in the Senate, it’s notable that eight Republicans split with their party to pass it. “I think building a concrete structure sea to shining sea is the most expensive and least effective way to do border security,” Republican Representative Will Hurd, whose Texas district contains more of the southern border than that of any of his House colleagues, told CNN on Wednesday.

Even if McConnell agreed to put the legislation reopening parts of the government to a vote, as of now there don’t appear to be enough Republicans willing to pass it—let alone override the veto it would likely receive from the president. Perhaps that’s why Trump, who has no further negotiations scheduled with congressional leaders, has left one option on the table: declaring a state of emergency.

“If this doesn’t work out, I probably will do it,” Trump told reporters on Thursday, before leaving for a visit to the border town of McAllen, Texas. “I would almost say definitely.”

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