Walking across Washington's National Mall on Wednesday, Ralph Snake kept stopping to pick up pieces of garbage, which have littered the grassy corridor since a budget showdown closed one quarter of the federal government almost two weeks ago.
"I decided to clean up this one section, because that's what Americans will do," said Snake, a 64-year-old member of the indigenous Hochunk Nation, who was in town from his Wisconsin home to see Sharice Davids get sworn in as one of Congress' first two women of Native American descent. "Just because this thing is shut down, our hearts aren't shut down."
The partial shutdown, which has cut off numerous government services, entered its 12th day on Wednesday, with no end in sight to the impasse over President Donald Trump's demands for $5.6 billion in congressional funding for a border wall.