JUDY WOODRUFF: And now,
for a Democrat's take,
we turn to Senator Chris
Van Hollen of Maryland.

Senator, welcome back
to the "NewsHour."

Is there any sign
of a breakthrough,
as far as you know?

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), Maryland:
I have not given up hope
that we can get a vote in the

Senate tomorrow to reopen the
government for two weeks, until
February 8, which would give

us a little breathing
room, a little space
to end this madness,
because a time-out really

doesn't prejudice
anybody's arguments.

It would allow federal
government employees to get
their paychecks, to be repaid.

They can pay their bills.

It would allow us to do a
little bit of the business of
the federal government and then

have a discussion to end
this shutdown madness.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But
you're referring to the
Democratic proposal.

Is that right?

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, it's not
really a Democratic proposal.

I would say the
Democratic proposal is
the one that I support.

It was voted on the very
first day of the session in
the House of Representatives.

It's in the Senate.

It's had bipartisan Senate
support, which would open the
federal government and fully

fund the agencies through
the end of the fiscal year.

So this is not that
Democratic proposal.

This is a stopgap
measure, stopgap measure,
two weeks' time-out.

And, again, I don't think it's
the greatest idea, but it's
certainly the best alternative

that we have in front of us
right now to end the shutdown.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But, as far as
we know, right now, Republicans
are not prepared to support

that.

They have got the
majority in the Senate.

You were just telling me
you're about to go to a
meeting of bipartisan senators.

Is there some give on both sides
that you think could reach some
kind of agreement tomorrow?

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Well, what
I hope to come out of this
meeting is an understanding that

the best way forward tomorrow
would be to open the government
for this two-week period

and give the Senate time
to work on these issues
in the regular order.

So, we can consider the
president's proposal,
but it should also be
subject to open amendment.

Let people vote
however they want.

Let the American people
know where they stand.

Look, Lindsey Graham,
Senator Graham proposed
the idea of a three-week
opening of the government

a little while ago.

This is even a smaller window,
a shorter window, two weeks.

And that would give a
little breathing room here.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Obviously, you
have a lot of federal employees
in the state of Maryland.

What are you hearing from
your constituents right now?

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: I'm
hearing two things, Judy.

First and foremost, people
want to get back and do their
jobs for the American people.

I mean, these are people who
are civil servants, but they're
also telling stories about how

they're getting totally
squeezed, right?

I mean, their paychecks
have stopped, but the
bills keep coming in.

So lots of them are having
trouble paying their
rent and their mortgages.

I spoke to the head of a
community college recently who
said that they were having to

work out payment plans because
parents who work for the
federal government, parents who

had students at college,
couldn't make the monthly
installment plans.

So this is really
squeezing the pocketbooks.

And that's why you're seeing
even those 100,000 employees who
are still being asked to work

without pay, they're not able
to cover some of their very
basic expenses, like getting

to work.

It's costing them to do their
work for the federal government.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator, on
just the basic proposal here,
the president wants some money

at least for a physical wall.

Democrats have supported
that in the past.

Why not go along with some
of that now in order to get
the government open again?

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: As you said,
we have proposed physical
barriers in strategic areas.

What we will not do is
operate under a total
threat of shutdown.

And the reason why is because
this will become habit-forming
for President Trump.

If he thinks that every time
he doesn't get his way, he can
shut down the government like

this, it will be a recipe for
continuing government shutdowns.

So I will say that, if you look
at the proposal the president
made the other day from the

Oval Office, as you look more
closely, it includes all these
poison pills that he didn't

talk about.

It would actually change
our asylum laws in ways
which would make it much
harder for unaccompanied

adults who have been victims
of sexual violence and were the
victims of sexual trafficking

to seek asylum in
the United States.

A lot of things like that
that were in that proposal.

We should not be holding
the entire country
hostage in the process.

And that's why this two-week
time-out is a good idea.

It's not the best
idea, by any means.

But it is the best option
on the table today.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Senator Chris
Van Hollen of Maryland,
thank you very much.

SEN.

CHRIS VAN HOLLEN: Thank you.