It is unclear where exactly President Donald Trump will travel to, as the U.S.-Mexico border extends from Texas to California. | AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin White House Trump starts PR war as shutdown talks falter The president will deliver a primetime address and head to the southern border as he digs in on his wall funding demands.

President Donald Trump plans to give a national address and travel to the southern border as negotiations to reopen the government remain deadlocked and no real discussions are happening with Democrats.

The two moves signal that the president is not easing off his demands for billions of dollars in border wall funding that have pushed the government into one of the longest shutdowns in U.S. history. Trump said he will deliver an address on Tuesday at 9 p.m. Eastern time "on the humanitarian and national security crisis on our southern border," a clear move to challenge Democrats, who insist that they will not give him the additional border funding Trump is seeking.


Once networks indicated they will pick up his address, Democrats demanded equal time on the airwaves to rebut the president.

“Now that the television networks have decided to air the president’s address, which if his past statements are any indication will be full of malice and misinformation, Democrats must immediately be given equal airtime," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

After a weekend of talks that Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials held with congressional staffers, no other meetings are currently scheduled for the two sides this week, according to congressional sources, underscoring how far apart Democrats and the president remain.

Pence told reporters on Monday afternoon that the White House is looking at whether the president can declare a national emergency to build a wall on the border, which would sidestep Democrats' resistance to congressional funding for Trump's top political priority.

Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen are expected to go to the Capitol on Tuesday night to rally House Republicans to stick with the president before the House votes on Democratic spending bills designed to reopen portions of the government, according to multiple Republican sources.

Pence and Nielsen also will meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday with the same message.

The Pence meetings come after bipartisan weekend talks ended without progress, in part because Democrats are skeptical anyone in the Trump administration can cut a deal other than the president, who continued advocating for $5.7 billion in funding for a border barrier even after the weekend's shutdown meetings ended. Trump has also increasingly talked about declaring a national emergency to construct his proposed wall.

"If it's all about defeating President Trump and embarrassing him politically, which seems to be the focus of Ms. Pelosi and Sen. Schumer, then obviously we're not going to get a deal anytime soon," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday on Fox News.

And Democrats are eager to keep Congress singularly focused on the shutdown. Senate Democrats may block an unrelated foreign policy bill on Tuesday out of disgust over the lingering shutdown, and Schumer has told colleagues he would vote against the legislation, which includes sanctions on Syria and language aimed at combating the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement targeting Israel.

"Senate Republicans are trying to pretend we aren’t in a shutdown. I’m voting NO to proceed to any legislation in the Senate until we take up House bills to end the shutdown. Hundreds of thousands are out of work. Our nation’s security is at stake. Let’s start acting like it," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), echoing calls from Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin, both of Maryland.

The bill is now "very likely" to fail, said a senior Democratic source.

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A spokesman for McConnell said that while the two Senate leaders agree that the chamber should not take up funding bills that can't pass and get signed by Trump, there has been no such pact on unrelated legislation.

"Neither said we should ignore other items while negotiations continue," said Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell.

The House will vote later this week on reopening portions of the government that have closed during the impasse over the border wall funding issue, a move by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to keep the shutdown on the front burner. But McConnell has repeatedly said he will take up legislation only if it is supported by the president, and the president has vowed that he won't sign funding legislation unless it gives a major boost to border security.

The partial shutdown of a quarter of the federal government is now the second-longest in modern history, stretching 17 days and between two Congresses.

Democrats are eager to increase pressure on the GOP with the House votes.

“Mitch McConnell cannot abdicate his constitutional responsibility,” said Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) on Monday. “He cannot use the excuse of ‘I’m waiting for Donald Trump and the Democrats.’ No. Where is the Republican leadership?”

With no progress happening behind closed doors, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a tweet on Monday that the president will "meet with those on the front lines of the national security and humanitarian crisis." It is unclear where the president will travel to, as the U.S.-Mexico border extends from Texas to California. Sanders added that more details will be announced soon.

Jake Sherman, Heather Caygle, Sarah Ferris, John Bresnahan and Jason Schwartz contributed to this report.