JUDY WOODRUFF: The day's
other major story: the partial
government shutdown, now in its

fourth week.

White House correspondent
Yamiche Alcindor has
been following the
president on that front.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Shutdown
day 24, and no end in sight.

Today, President Trump said he
is still looking to make a deal
and doesn't want to act alone.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the
United States: I'm not looking
to call a national emergency.

This is so simple,
you shouldn't have to.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: As he left
for an event in New Orleans,
he also insisted the shutdown

is now entirely the
fault of Democrats.

DONALD TRUMP: The Democrats
are stopping us, and they're
stopping a lot of great people

from getting paid.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But
some in the president's
own party are now calling
for him to compromise

on his demand for $5.7 billion
for his southern border wall.

On Sunday, Senator Lindsey
Graham of South Carolina, a
longtime ally of the president,

said Mr. Trump should at least
temporarily end the shutdown.

SEN.

LINDSEY GRAHAM (R),
South Carolina: I would
urge him to open up the
government for a short

period of time, like three
weeks, before he pulls the
plug, see if we can get a deal.

If we can't at the end of
three weeks, all bets are off.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: This morning,
Mr. Trump rejected the idea.

DONALD TRUMP: Well, that was a
suggestion that Lindsey made,
but I did -- I did reject

it, yes.

I'm not interested.

I want to get it solved.

I don't just want to delay it.

I want to get it solved.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Democrats say
it's up to the president and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell to make a deal.

Today, Senator Ben Cardin of
Maryland spoke at the Baltimore
Airport with employees of

the Transportation
Security Administration.

They are among nearly 400,000
federal workers required to work
without pay during the shutdown.

SEN.

BEN CARDIN (D), Maryland:
It's extremely challenging
when people say why
don't you compromise when

you're dealing with the
president of the United
States, who's holding
America hostage, and

when the president himself
undermines his own negotiators
over and over again.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Today, TSA
said that, on January 3, two
weeks into the shutdown, a

man got through security at
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson
airport undetected with a gun.

The agency said the security
checkpoint was fully staffed.

But, today, across the country,
including at airports in
Atlanta and Houston, travelers

faced long TSA lines.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans this
afternoon, at the American
Farm Bureau Convention, Mr.

Trump addressed the
concerns of farmers.

DONALD TRUMP: We're
fighting very hard for you.

We're making a lot of progress.

So I'm asking all of our
citizens to call your Democrat
lawmakers and ask them to pass

a bill that secures our border,
protects our country, and
now reopens our government.

YAMICHE ALCINDOR: The shutdown
means many farmers are unable
to get critical federal

data or loans they will need
to plan for spring planting.

For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Yamiche Alcindor.