That’s unacceptable to moderate Democrats, some of whom are now encouraging Trump to declare an emergency at the southern border and then just let the courts figure it out while government employees start working and receiving their much-needed paychecks again. With powerful congressional leaders like Shelby dismissing the bipartisan talks out of hand, some are now calling for drastic measures to end the impasse.

“Well, if that’s the case then I’m begging the president—please declare a national emergency,” Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told The Daily Beast. “Please do it Mr. President, because we are in a political meltdown.”

Manchin supports more border security funding than other Democrats, but he also doesn’t necessarily think the emergency declaration is legal. Still, he says it’s time for Trump to do it.

“The courts are there—equal powers are there. Three branches of government are there for a purpose, and we have the courts intervening a lot: constitutional, unconstitutional, this and that. So this would be no different than that,” Manchin argued.