WASHINGTON, D.C. - -The president is preparing to address the nation Tuesday night, as the third week of the partial federal government shutdown grinds on with no end in sight.

The fight continues to center on the president's long-promised southern border wall, with both sides digging in.

The president wants more than $5 billion for so-called "steel slats." Many Republicans on Capitol Hill are joining him in that push.

"I think there is a reasonable compromise for us to fund a trillion dollar government and give the president $5 billion for necessary border security," said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

Democrats, however, refuse to grant the president that request, calling the wall amoral.

"We are adamantly opposed to building the wall," said Rep. GK Butterfield, D-N.C. "That’s not what the American people want, that’s not the image that America wants to project to the world."

The impact of the shutdown is about to get more serious. In just a matter of days, federal employees, including TSA agents, stand to miss out on their paychecks as part of the impasse.

In a recent op-ed for The Hill, North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis suggested a deal on DACA might be part of a larger agreement to end the shutdown. 

DACA is a program that protects immigrants who arrived illegally in the United States as children. The Trump White House moved to phase out the program, throwing the fate of those individuals - so-called "Dreamers" - into limbo. The DACA program has since been tied up in the courts.

“All it will require is the courage to force out the extreme elements on either side of the aisle,” he wrote.

However, the president appeared to brush that idea aside during comments to the press over the weekend.

"I would consider DACA, but I think we complicate it. I'd rather have the Supreme Court rule, and then work with the Democrats on DACA,” the President said.

If unresolved by this upcoming weekend, the shutdown will become the longest in American history.