Welcome to Meet the Press Now. I'm Peter Alexander here in Washington, where the government

shutdown is about to enter its fourth week with no end in sight, no apparent desire for compromise on either side of the

aisle. Today, the president alongside Republican senators presented what was in effect a united front

as President Trump hosted those GOP lawmakers on the newly renovated White House Rose Garden patio.

Unfortunately, in a craven and pointless act of partisan spite, Chuck Schumer, who have known for a long time and the radical left Democrats are holding the entire federal government hostage to appease the extremists in their party.

They are the obstructionists. And the reason they're doing it is because we're doing so well.

This is the fourth week of the Democrat shut down, but we are all here today because your Republican team in the Senate is unified.

And we are going to keep voting to open up the government.

And eventually the Democrats, hopefully sooner or later, are going to come around.

But, Mr. President, your agenda is the right one for this country.

This is your team. We are your partners.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune there comes a day after the top Democrat in the House,

Hakeem Jeffries, accused Congressal Republicans of being beholden to the president.

We know that House of Senate. Republicans don't do anything without getting permission from their boss, Donald J. Trump.

And the reason why there have been no negotiations, zero negotiations,

since Republicans shut the government down, is because Donald Trump clearly wants the government shut down.

He wants to inflict pain on the American people.

And this will not change until Donald Trump gives Republicans permission to sit down with Democrats.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the Senate failed to pass the same government funding bill

for the 11th time in these 21 days. It remains unclear what, if anything, will force lawmakers

to the negotiating table. Just pull back the curtain. Think about past shutdowns. The urgency

of military troops going without pay for an extended period of time or maybe flight disruptions

...