Transcript for Trump defends government shutdown: ‘This is a rough fight’
Tomorrow, 53,000 members of the U.S. Coast guard will start missing their paychecks. They’re deployed all over the world. They’re now being affected by this shutdown. President trump is refusing tonight to give any ground in the battle to build his border wall, speaking to formers in new Orleans. As farmers as across this country go without help, too, with this shutdown. ABC’s Mary Bruce live on the hill tonight. Reporter: Speaking to a convention of hard-hit farmers, president trump today defended the government shutdown. When it comes to keeping the American people safe, I will never, ever back down. I didn’t need this fight. This is a rough fight. Reporter: And formers are feeling it, with the department of agriculture closed, many can’t get loans. The bailout payments to blunt the pain of the president’s trade war now on hold. In Georgia, bill brim tells us formers hit hard bill hurricanes are desperate for their disaster relief checks. It hurts you. You want to go in, you got to pay rent for your farm, you’ve got to be able to buy fertilizer, you have to get all your crops prepared. Reporter: In Virginia, fourth generation former John Boyd tells “The Washington post” he’s feeling the pain. Don’t need a damn wall out here. I need my money so that I can plant my crop on time and finish harvesting. Reporter: But brim supports the president and his push for a border wall. Still, he says the shutdown needs to end. I just like, you know, to say that, we need something done now. We need for the Democrats and the Republicans to get together and do what’s right. Give him the wall if that’s what it takes to get this thing closed down so we can go back to Normal. Reporter: But in Washington, there is no solution in sight, and those 800,000 federal work er S still aren’t being paid. 380,000 of them have been told to stay home. But the president’s top economic adviser says that might be a good thing. Huge share of government workers were going to take vacation days, say, between Christmas and new year’s. And then we have a shutdown and so they can’t go to work and so then they have the vacation. But they don’t have to use their vacation days. And then they come back and then they get their back pay, in some sense, they’re better off. Let’s get to Mary, up on the hill tonight. As we reported there, the ripple effects widening. Members of the coast guard now will miss their first paycheck tomorrow, they become the first branch of the military to be working without pay? Reporter: Yeah, David. The other branches are being funded, the coast guard is being left out. Today, the commandant had a message for families seeing how they can make things work, saying on Facebook, we are doing everything we can to support and advocate for you while your loved ones stay on the watch. David? Mary, thank you.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
