who's defending the president's position on this, and the president is being allowed, democrats believe, to skate without nailing down exactly what he would be willing to accept. exactly what kind of deal he would say yes to. this opportunity today for democrats is to go into the white house and tell the president they think he's wrong and they think his approach isn't working, and they think he needs to take one of the specific offramps that they have given him and not continue to on view skate as they would probably describe it over what it is he wants to see out of this negotiation. this may move the ball forward slightly, but i wouldn't be particularly optimistic that anyone's going to leave with a deal in hand. >> and quickly, is there any room here for negotiation? do the democrats think going into this that the president is willing to come down on his number of $5 billion for this border wall, and are the democrats willing to come up on that number? >> reporter: the number is less important than the terminology. we're in almost a ridiculous situation here. i mean, the white house already has come down on the number.