Welcome to Meet the Press Now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington, where the government shutdown has now entered its fourth week,

making it the second longest shutdown in U.S. history.

The consequences for hundreds

of thousands of workers for vital government services and for the American health care

system are growing, and there are no signs it will end anytime soon. After nearly a dozen

failed votes on funding in the Senate, Democrats are putting the onus on President Trump

to kickstart negotiations, as the

president says Democrats must end the shutdown first.

Donald Trump, instead of leaving the country or before he leads the century, should sit down

and negotiate with us so we can address this horrible crisis.

We should not be gone away before he negotiates. The American people

are in crisis. I would love to meet. I would like to meet with both of them, but I said one

little caveat. I will only meet if they let the country open. To be clear, you won't meet with

them until the government's open. The government has to be open, yeah?

Today, more signals from both sides that they are not budging, with Democratic minority

leader, Hakeem Jeffrey, slamming Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson for keeping the chamber

out of session as Johnson doubles down.

The town and now are nowhere to be found.

House Democrats understand our responsibility to run toward and embrace the American people

as we defend their health care, their quality of life, and work hard to drive down the high cost of living in the United States of America.

Democrats are the ones who manufactured this entire situation without a single Republican vote,

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