The federal government shutdown on Dec. 22, after congressional and White House officials failed to find a compromise on a spending bill that hinged on President Trump’s demands for $5.7 billion for a border wall. The government has been shut down for longer than a month, making it the longest shutdown ever.

It is the third shutdown in two years of unified Republican rule in Washington, and it will stop work at nine federal departments and several other agencies. Around 800,000 government employees are affected and have missed a total of two paychecks.

A couple of weeks ago, Vice President Mike Pence met with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and senior House Republicans, searching for a solution to a logjam that President Trump has shown little interest in breaking, but it amounted to nothing. Any hopes of compromise is decreasing due everyone unwillingness to budge.

Both sides are trying to get the other side to blink and it’s obviously not working. This week is all about pressure and forcing the other side to blink. Yes, that’s been an unstated goal for both parties throughout the last month or so, but with real proposals on the table, real votes on the floor and real effects, the stakes will only become more acute.

All in all, the government shutdown has gone on for far too long and the proposal of the wall seems like a waste of resources and taxpayer money and just seems like an unnecessary investment. In general, building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is a bad idea. It would stifle economic activity and drain money that’s badly needed to create jobs, fund schools, and repair beaten-up roads. The future of border security lies in manpower and new technology, not medieval barricades.

The funding of the wall has also been a source of controversy, considering Trump’s initial claim that he was going to make Mexico pay for the wall. Mexico vehemently denied this, and Trump supporters went as far as making a GoFundMe in an attempt to raise funds for the wall.

It also is showing the Presidents inability to comprehend trends and studies, as his administration overlooked the roughly 40 percent of the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. who became undocumented by overstaying their visas, not from border crossings.In fact, border crossing rates have gone down for twenty straight years, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Even ignoring the statistics, there are still issues with civil liberties and environmental concerns.

President Donald Trump has dragged the shutdown on for far too long and it is clear that it will only go on for longer unless someone budges. Democrats have made it staunchly clear that they are unwilling to budge on the issue of a border wall, while Trump has dug in his heels as well.

The future of the border wall as well as the government shutdown has a very cloudy future.