WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Congress has until December 21 to figure out a deal that will avoid a partial government shutdown. With President Trump insisting a spending bill includes billions for a border wall, lawmakers are being put in a tricky situation.

  • December 21 deadline 
  • 800,000 federal workers would be affected 
  • Pres. Trump wants spending bill to include border wall funding

“Do you support the president saying if he doesn’t get $5 billion for the wall, shut the government down?” Spectrum Washington reporter Taylor Popielarz asked three of Ohio’s Republican congressmen. 

“Look the president is trying to deliver on a promise that he made to the American people,” said Rep. Bill Johnson (OH-06).

“I want to see this thing get resolved because nobody wants to see a shutdown,” said Rep. Bob Latta (OH-05).

“I never want to shut down the government,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup (OH-02).

The clock is ticking on Capitol Hill, where no deal by next Friday means a quarter of the federal government closes. Some of Ohio’s Republican congressmen seem torn over Trump’s approach to funding a border wall.

“Well, I’m never ok with a shutdown,” Johnson said, “but if that’s the leverage that the president has to use with the Democrats — to get their support on something that should be common sense — yeah, I support the president drawing a line and saying, ‘We need to secure our borders.’”

“I know the president often refers to it as ‘a wall,’” Wenstrup said. “I don’t know that we need, necessarily, a physical wall, but we need some type of surveillance or whatever we may need in certain areas, depending upon the geography.”

The possible shutdown could start on the day lawmakers are planning to head home for Christmas, so there’s already some incentive to avoid it, but Republicans and Democrats are starting to speak differently about the impact a shutdown of 25-percent of the government could have, since the other three quarters has already been paid for.

“I think a lot of people wouldn’t even notice if there was a government shutdown, in a lot of cases,” Latta said.

“You don’t want this interruption that can cause hardship on a lot of families and a compromising of services to protect the safety of the United States of America,” said Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

If a shutdown does happen next week, close to 800,000 federal employees will either be sent home or work without pay.