>> two other important numbers to remember today. december 27th, thursday. that's when the senate comes back. january 3rd, that's the day the new congress is seated. joining me now to discuss, former republican congressman and current cnn political commentator charlie dent. congressman, great to see you. you've seen your fair share of shutdowns. and i'm just talking about this year. does this shutdown seem different than others? >> yeah, this one does. i think there's a -- because of the president's erratic behavior, this shutdown in my view is completely unnecessary. the appropriations process actually had moved pretty well this year. five of the 12 bills were already signed into law in september. and the seven remaining six are teed up, ready to go, they could pass those today if they wanted to. the fight is over the homeland security appropriations bill, over the wall funding. all they need to do is punt that bill into the new year and do the other six now, and problem