With budget talks stalled, US girds for lengthy government shutdown

The US on Sunday entered day two of a government shutdown gridlocking Washington that the White House budget director said could persist into the new year and the next Congress.

A budget deal to end the partial shutdown -- which forced several key US agencies to cease operations at 12:01 am (0501 GMT) Saturday -- appears a distant prospect as Congress adjourned for the weekend ahead of Christmas.

"It's very possible that this shutdown will go beyond the 28th and into the new Congress," White House budget director Mulvaney told "Fox News Sunday" of the impasse over funding for President Donald Trump's wall on the US-Mexico border.

But while trying to pin the blame for the shutdown on Democrats, Mulvaney acknowledged that Trump's adamance on the wall played a role.

"This is what Washington looks like when you have a president who refuses to sort of go along to get along," Mulvaney said.

It is the third partial government shutdown of the year, even though Trump's own Republican Party still controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats will take control of the House on January 3.

Trump, who canceled his holiday vacation to Florida due to the budget wrangling, has dug in on his demand for USD 5 billion to build the border wall, a signature campaign promise and part of his effort to reduce illegal immigration.

"The only way to stop drugs, gangs, human trafficking, criminal elements and much else from coming into our Country is with a Wall or Barrier," he tweeted Sunday.

"Drones and all of the rest are wonderful and lots of fun, but it is only a good old fashioned Wall that works!" He had tweeted Saturday that he was in the White House "working hard" to find a solution but that "it could be a long stay." But Democrats remain staunchly opposed, and in the absence of a deal, federal funds for dozens of agencies lapsed.

Nearly 400,000 workers have been sent home while an additional 420,000 whose jobs were deemed essential -- including Border Patrol officers and airport security workers -- are remaining on the job without pay.

There were few signs on Sunday of any forward movement and, with most lawmakers home for the holidays, some indications that a solution was as far away as ever.

"The Democrats offered us USD 1.6 billion a couple weeks ago," Mulvaney said on ABC. "Then they offered the president USD 1.3 billion this week." "That's a negotiation that seems like it's going in the wrong direction," said the current budget director set to become Trump's acting chief of staff next week.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, blamed the shutdown on a "remarkable two-week temper tantrum" by the president, who he said could reopen the government if he would "abandon the wall."