A bipartisan group of rank-and-file senators is planning to hold discussions on how to end the weeks-long government shutdown, with talks between congressional leaders and the White House at a standstill.

The group involves Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W.Va., and others, according to an official with knowledge of the deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussions.

Prospects for achieving any results are uncertain as the group begins meeting this week or even fully launch. But the group’s creation is a sign senators of both parties are eager to end the shutdown, even if it means taking matters into their own hands amid an impasse between top Democrats and President Trump.

With the shutdown entering its fourth week, Trump remains dug in on his demands for $5.7 billion to build hundreds of miles of new walls along the U.S.-Mexico border. Democrats are refusing to give him anywhere near that amount.

An effort last week led by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., collapsed after Vice President Pence announced publicly that Trump wasn’t interested in a deal involving trading wall funding for protections for unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Trump on Monday called on Democrats to agree to his demands, as he reiterated he had no plans to call a national emergency to build the wall by circumventing Congress.

A national emergency declaration had appeared a possible route to ending the shutdown last week, before Trump backed off the idea Friday. He also said he wasn’t interested in an idea floated by Graham to reopen the government temporarily while negotiations continue.

“The Democrats should say, ‘We want border security. We have to build a wall otherwise you cant have border security.’ And we should get on with our lives,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “The Democrats are stopping us and they’re stopping a lot of great people from getting paid. All they have to do is say, ‘We want border security.’ That automatically means a wall or a barrier.”

Democrats say they’re open to negotiating on border security – but only after Trump agrees to reopen the government. The House, under newly elevated Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has spent the last two weeks passing spending bills to reopen portions of the federal government that have nothing to do with the wall, an effort that will continue this week.

But Trump has made clear he would veto this legislation, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says he won’t bring anything up for a vote that Trump doesn’t support.

“Why won’t President Trump open the government while we continue to negotiate? Because he thinks it’s okay to use Americans’ lives, livelihoods, paychecks, and families as “leverage” for his wall,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on Twitter Monday. “Stop hurting Americans and open the government now, @realDonaldTrump.”

The shutdown dragged into its 24th day Monday, with some 25 percent of the federal government shuttered after funding ran dry Dec. 22. Some 800,000 federal workers are now going without pay, even though many of them have to continue working because their jobs have been deemed essential.

The last round of talks between Trump and congressional leaders collapsed last week after Trump walked out on them when Pelosi refused his demands to pay for the wall. No new talks are scheduled.

Appearing on Fox & Friends on Monday morning, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway said: “I’m a fan of maybe talking to some of the 31 Democratic House members who represent districts that Trump-Pence won in 2016. Some of them are making joyful noises about border security.”

But several of these lawmakers said Monday that they aren’t interested in negotiations until Trump reopens the government.

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