--- title: Graham: Shutdown Could End 'in a Couple of Weeks' description: Senator Lindsey Graham said a deal to end the partial U.S. government shutdown could be reached “in a couple of weeks." canonical: https://time.com/5507803/senator-lindsey-graham-government-shutdown/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-19T15:09:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:56.637Z article:section: Politics og:title: Senator Lindsey Graham Says the Government Shutdown Could End 'in a Couple of Weeks' og:description: Trump has promised a “major announcement” on the shutdown on Saturday og:url: https://time.com/5507803/senator-lindsey-graham-government-shutdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt864f6420334595dd/698943a3457a527dadd605ae/senator-lindsey-graham-government-shutdown-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: senator-lindsey-graham-government-shutdown-claims og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Senator Lindsey Graham Says the Government Shutdown Could End 'in a Couple of Weeks' twitter:description: Trump has promised a “major announcement” on the shutdown on Saturday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt864f6420334595dd/698943a3457a527dadd605ae/senator-lindsey-graham-government-shutdown-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Senator Lindsey Graham Says the Government Shutdown Could End 'in a Couple of Weeks' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Why Trump Is Dragging Out the Shutdown — Even Though It's Unpopular [Watch (HLS stream): Why Trump Is Dragging Out the Shutdown — Even Though It's Unpopular](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ftjJTqAc.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2019-01-07. The first rule of government shutdowns: blame the other side._ by [Cagan Koc / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Cagan Koc / Bloomberg Contributor Jan 19, 2019 3:09 PM UTC  US Senator Lindsey Graham holds a media conference at JW Marriott Hotel in Ankara, Turkey on January 19, 2019\. He claims that the government shutdown in the U.S. could end "in a couple of weeks". US Senator Lindsey Graham holds a media conference at JW Marriott Hotel in Ankara, Turkey on January 19, 2019\. He claims that the government shutdown in the U.S. could end "in a couple of weeks". Anadolu Agency—Getty Images by [Cagan Koc / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Cagan Koc / Bloomberg Contributor Jan 19, 2019 3:09 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — Senator Lindsey Graham said a deal to end the partial U.S. government shutdown now in a record 29th day could be reached “in a couple of weeks,” citing talks he’s had with congressional Democrats and Vice President Mike Pence. “We’re at a stalemate,” Graham, a South Carolina Republican and an ally of President Donald Trump, told Bloomberg in Ankara on Saturday. “The good news: I’ve been talking behind the scenes with Democrats, and the vice president. I believe there is a deal that can be reached fairly quickly. I think this can be done in a couple of weeks, not a couple of months.” Graham said he has been through several government shutdowns, which he said all happen to reach a policy goal. Trump has promised a “ major announcement” on the shutdown on Saturday that may offer incentives for congressional Democrats to return to talks. On Jan. 13 Graham said he’d like Trump to reopen the federal government on a temporary basis to see whether a deal could be reached to fund the president’s proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump told reporters a day later that he had rejected that idea. Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was in Turkey for meetings with officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (An earlier version corrected the length of the shutdown.) ## Transcript The first rule of government shutdowns. Blame the other side. The Democrats. The Democrats. Totally up to the Democrats. Call it a Democrat shutdown. Call it whatever you want. Since shutdowns became a political tactic in the 1970's, presidents and congressional leaders have attempted to shift the blame for a shutdown onto their opponents. Now here's the bottom line. Democrats are rooting for government shutdown. But President Donald Trump upended that logic. In the summer of 2018 he began saying that he would be willing to shut down the government over immigration policy. [ MUSIC ] So I would have no problem doing a shutdown. It's time we had proper border security. He went further as the December shutdown loomed. I will be the one to shut it down. I'm not gonna blame you for it. The last time you shut it down it didn't work. I will take the mantel of shutting down. That's created a problem for Trump now that the government is partially shut down however. Trump has tried to use the typical playbook and blame Democrats. We're in a shutdown because Democrats refuse to fund the border security. But there are just too many old videos and tweets and him saying he wanted to shut down the government for that to work. 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