Trump says shutdown 'would be a terrible thing'

With just two days remaining before the short-term spending bill approaches the February 15 deadline, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said that he did not want yet another partial government shutdown, asserting that it "would be a terrible thing" and did not want to see "another one."

Hinting at imposing national emergency to bypass Congress and go ahead with the border wall along the Mexico border, Trump called the Democrats as "stingy" for not meeting his target for funding of the barrier, adding, "we have options that most people don't really understand", The Hill reported.

"I don't want to see a shutdown. Shutdown would be a terrible thing. I don't want to see another one. There's no reason for it," he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US President expressed displeasure over the deal reached by the Congressional negotiators to avert another government shutdown. The bipartisan agreement would provide USD 1.3 billion in funding to build 55 miles of the wall along the US-Mexico border, well short of Trump's demand for USD 5.7 billion.

An impasse between the US Congress and Trump over funding for the wall had earlier triggered the longest-ever partial government shutdown in the US last December, which lasted for 35 days and left scores of federal workers without pay for the period.

A stop-gap measure is currently in place until February 15, during which negotiators are trying to finalise a deal that would avoid plunging the country back into the state of shutdown again.

Trump has kept up his demand for the wall, despite Democrats labelling the fence as wastage of money. He has also indicated declaring a national emergency to get the barricade built "at any cost.