The federal government has been shut down for a total of 34 days with no compromise in sight for President Donald Trump. 

The Democratic leaders of Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer don’t appear any closer to reaching a deal either.

But make no mistake, the pressure is surely being felt — just not by these politicians. While hundreds of thousands of federal workers have yet to receive a paycheck in the new year, the salaries of top political leaders remain untouched.

The pay of politicians should not be handed down until they reopen the government.

Most of these furloughed federal workers featured in news pieces across the country share a common trait — none of them are politicians. If they were, they would still be getting paid right now.

Even tenants of government subsidized housing are facing uneasy situations.

The New York Times recently reported that the property manager of a low-income housing complex in Arkansas run by the Department of Agriculture attempted to pass government fees onto his tenants. 

“Until the government opens again, you are responsible for ALL of your rental amount,” the manager’s letter said before federal officials promised to cover the payments when the government reopens.

There are very few partisan issues that are worth putting the financial security of so many Americans on the line for, and a wall on the southern border of the U.S. is definitely not one of them.

Prolonging this shutdown any further can set a terrible precedent for future presidents and leaders of Congress.

There should not come a day in which workers expect a shutdown every year.

But as the adults in the room, Pelosi and Schumer should broker a compromise that will ultimately work in their favor.

Not only would they be seen as the party that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, but they could also strike a deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

In Trump’s Jan. 19 address, he offered to restore Temporary Protected Status to 300,000 people and allow 700,000 Dreamers to keep their protections for three more years in exchange for his border wall.

Of course, most Democrats would find it ridiculous to compromise on protections Trump himself took away, but if they show the president they are willing to come to the negotiating table, they might walk away with the better deal.

Schumer described Trump’s proposals and refusal to open the government as “hostage taking.”

It is time for Schumer to prove he is willing to negotiate with the president instead of just playing talking point tennis with him.

“We’re happy to debate border security with the president and our Republican colleagues, happy to, but let’s reopen the government,” said Schumer before Congress on Thursday.

Only in closed-door discussions, where the media is not scrutinizing the politicians’ every proposal, can serious work be done to benefit both sides.