'I think it's pretty ridiculous': Idahoans frustrated as government shutdown drifts into fifth week

BOISE, Idaho — On the 33rd day of the government shutdown, frustration is running high across the nation and here in Idaho.

“I think it's pretty ridiculous,” Matthew Montoya said. “I don’t understand why we have to shut down the government and furlough 800,000 employees who are hardworking, that's not a good business model for anybody.” 

Wednesday, KTVB asked people in downtown Boise to weigh in on how they’re feeling about the shutdown. 

“The way things have been downward spiraling lately, I really don’t know if they're going to get it together,” Maxwell Barber said.

Anne Hausrath shared similar sentiments.

“I feel that it's a disgrace for our country to be in this situation,” Hausrath said. 

But who is to blame?

“I think right now it's kind of a game of chicken between political parties,” Nathan Jordan said. “I think it's both parties and people being unwilling to talk and realize that if you're trying to protect people and help people on both sides, that there are people who are being more or less punished and caught up in the middle right now.”

RELATED: Trump says he will give State of the Union 'when the Shutdown is over'

KTVB also spoke with freshman Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher about the government shutdown.

“It’s not a debate about what the right thing to do is, it is a power play between the speaker and the president,” Fulcher said. “That's basically all this fall down to."

He says he's been speaking with other members about how to reopen the government.

“My urging is to forget about the politics, forget about the party moniker right now,” Fulcher said. 

MORE: Idaho Rep. Russ Fulcher weighs in on shutdown: 'It's a power play between the speaker and the president'

Idaho's other congressman, Rep. Mike Simpson, also commented on the shutdown Wednesday, via a statement. It read in part: "Like all Americans, I am extremely frustrated in Congress' inability to compromise. My message to Idahoans is that I am sorry for the failure of your elected leaders to fulfill their most basic duty.”

Despite the ongoing shutdown, the Idahoans we spoke with say they're still hopeful it will end soon.

“I’m a parent, grandparent, we teach people to act in a responsible manner and I would hope that everybody in congress and the president would act like adults and open the government and then work things out,” Hausrath said.