Democrats have repeatedly rejected Donald Trump’s demands for a “concrete wall”—but what about a “steel barrier”? As the president’s partial government shutdown enters its 17th day, his latest effort to persuade Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to fork over $5.7 billion in wall funding seems to revolve around a new building material. “I informed my folks to say that we’ll build a steel barrier,” Trump told reporters upon his return from Camp David on Sunday. “They don’t like concrete, so we’ll give them steel. Steel is fine. Steel is actually more expensive than concrete, but it will look beautiful, and it’s very strong. It’s actually stronger.” His administration formalized its request for “steel-barrier” funding on Sunday, writing in a letter to the House Appropriations Committee that such an impediment would create an “enduring capability that helps field personnel stop, slow down, and/or contain illegal entries.”

To some lawmakers, the shift indicates the president is beginning to realize his position is untenable. In an interview on Monday, Senator Chris Coons called the step “progress.” As of yet, however, there is no sign that Democrats have been moved by this new entreaty. Moreover, as Politico points out, the administration failed to provide a “full budget justification” for its request.

With no clear end to the shutdown in sight, the administration seems to be taking a kind of good cop, bad cop approach to its negotiations with the Democrats. Over the weekend, Vice President Mike Pence was once again deployed to negotiate with Democratic leaders. Trump characterized the talks as “productive,” but other accounts noted that Democrats were “put off” by Pence’s approach.

Trump, in turn, has played the bad cop, threatening to bypass Congress and declare a national emergency to get the wall built. “I may declare a national emergency dependent on what’s going to happen over the next few days,” he told reporters Sunday. “We’ll be letting you know fairly soon.” Whether he has the legal authority to do so is a matter of hot debate on the Hill; lawmakers seem divided on the question, while other experts hold that the move would be illegal. Trump has also attempted to ramp up pressure on Democrats to make a deal by holding federal workers hostage—something he seemed to acknowledge in a Twitter taunt over the weekend. “I don’t care that most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats, I want to stop the Shutdown as soon as we are in agreement on Strong Border Security!” he wrote on Saturday. “I am in the White House ready to go, where are the Dems?”

As the impasse approaches record length, the White House has begun scrambling to try to soften the blow of the shutdown on the 800,000 government employees caught in the middle of the fight—a sign, perhaps, that the administration is aware of the political toll the loggerheads could exact on the president. As The Washington Post notes, several Trump administration agencies have taken unusual measures in an effort to temper the shutdown’s effects, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development sending letters to 1,500 landlords seeking to prevent thousands from being evicted due to the lapse of a government program the Ben Carson–headed agency didn’t realize had expired.

But the shutdown has already underscored the administration’s incompetence, and its impacts are likely to be even more deeply felt the longer it drags on. If Saturday arrives without a resolution, the Trump shutdown will become the longest in American history.