PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- Monday marks 31st day of the partial government shutdown, and some politicians are weighing in, as some government employees are running so short of money that they are seeking help from St. Mary's Food Bank.
The Phoenix food bank is seeing 25% more business than usual for this time of the year, and believe that's because of the government shutdown. Meanwhile, at the Martin Luther King Day celebration at Margaret T. Hance Park in Downtown Phoenix, politicians weighing in on a way out of the impasse.
"When people hear that there are 800,000 government employees that are impacted by this government shutdown, that's a huge number," said Rep. Greg Stanton (D). "You hear stories of people who have children at home who have disabilities that need their parents, because they're not receiving a paycheck, so they can't afford childccare for their children."
GOP's Martha McSally, appointed by Gov. Doug Ducey as Senator, insisted on a border wall during her ultimately unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. On Monday, McSally allied herself, in a way, with President Trump today, pushing for, if not a wall exactly, more of a barrier.
"I'm not for shutdowns. We've gotta open the government back up," said Sen. McSally. "I'll be working with our senators on both sides of the aisle to see if we can get some movement forward, and get something on the President's desk that opens up the government, secures the border."
As for McSally, who, during her campaign against Sen. Sinema, said Sinema "suggested it is OK to commit treason", ducked questions as to whether she still believes the statement. She only said she is focused on working with all lawmakers to get things done for the American people.
Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego, a possible opponent for McSally in two short years, also calling for border security enhancements, but rejecting a wall.
"I think the best thing to do is get back to where we're all talking, at an even playing level, get back to what our forefathers designed, where the House makes a decision, the Senate makes a decision and then the President can make a decision then," said Rep. Gallego.