A New Jersey Democrat on the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus is calling for Congress to reach a compromise with President Trump to reopen the government and begin negotiations on border security and immigration reform after the shutdown ends.

In an interview with CNN, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) said that both sides have a duty to “come to the table” and compromise, but added that negotiations of any type cannot happen while thousands of government workers remain unpaid.

{mosads}”Open the government first, because you can’t negotiate about anything while the government is closed,” Gottheimer told CNN’s John Berman. “Then, after the government is reopened, let’s get together at the table and talk about border security which obviously is essential, but also immigration reform and what we can do to fix our immigration system.”

“But you’ve got to come to the table,” he added. “And what I’ve been saying now for weeks, and what so many of us have been saying, is we’ve got to actually talk to each other. But you can’t talk while the government is shut down, because there’s no way you’re going to actually have a productive conversation, and it’s not how our government should operate.”

“You don’t negotiate when the government is shut down…You reopen it and then you have that conversation” about border security, says @RepJoshG, one of 30 Democrats to send a letter to Speaker Pelosi calling for a compromise to end the government shutdown. https://t.co/miaCZ1cker pic.twitter.com/56pcrPEd7C

— New Day (@NewDay) January 24, 2019

President Trump and Democrats have battled for weeks over funding for the federal government, which the White House says Trump will not approve without a bill containing more than $5 billion for construction of a border wall.

The shutdown reached its 34th day on Thursday. Thousands of federal workers who remain furloughed or at work without pay are scheduled to miss a second paycheck on Friday.