Although the address wasn’t too dissimilar from his previous arguments in favor of a border wall, it came at a critical time for Congress and the nation as a whole. That’s because the federal government has been partially shutdown for over two weeks. Trump has promised to keep it partially closed until Congress approves nearly $6 billion in funding for a wall along the southern border. Until now, Democrats have refused to budge on the border wall, which has blocked the formation of a new budget and put government services on hold.