BANGOR, Maine — Friday marked day 13 of the government shut down, and the two sides were no closer to an agreement.
Sen. Susan Collins told NEWS CENTER Maine she met with President Trump and about ten other senators, on both sides, to try to prevent the shutdown. She said there was resistance from both parties in that meeting, but that the government should never shut down.
"My hope is that the shutdown will end as quickly as possible. There never is a good reason to shut down government," Sen. Collins said. "There's no reason we can't work out a compromise on border security. We do need to strengthen our borders but we also need to get government up and running."
She said the country needs a "multi-pronged approach to border security."
"There are parts of the border, particularly with Texas, where it just isn't feasible to have a wall or a fence" Collins said. "But you can in those areas use sensors, more border patrol agents or other means of strengthening the border."
Collins added that 90 percent of the heroin in the U.S. comes from south of the border.