A partial Government shutdown looms in the US amid a continuing dispute over Donald Trump's proposed border wall.
From midnight tonight Washington DC time, funding is set to run out for nine federal departments and other agencies.
If that happens, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be required to work without pay, while others will be sent home on furlough.
Over recent weeks, politicians have been working to reach a compromise on a stopgap spending bill - and one such bill managed to pass through the Senate earlier this week.
However, President Trump has insisted on funding for his border wall - and that money was not included in the Senate agreement.
As a result, the House of Representatives added billions of dollars in border wall and disaster relief funding to the stopgap bill.
Those revisions itself managed to pass through the House, but the New York Times reports it's expected to fail in the Senate.
While the Republicans enjoy a narrow majority in the upper chambers, the support of Democratic senators - who are firmly opposed to any funding for the border wall - is needed to pass a 60-vote threshold.
'Own the shutdown'
In a series of tweets, President Trump warned a shutdown will "last for a very long time" if Democrats vote against the border wall proposals.
The Democrats, whose votes we need in the Senate, will probably vote against Border Security and the Wall even though they know it is DESPERATELY NEEDED. If the Dems vote no, there will be a shutdown that will last for a very long time. People don’t want Open Borders and Crime!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2018
He went on to claim that Democrats 'own the shutdown' - despite proudly proclaiming publicly earlier this month that he would be "proud to shut down the government over border security".
In a tweet, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer highlighted the US President's previous comments.
He accused Trump of 'throwing a temper tantrum' to persuade representatives to ignore the compromise bill passed by the Senate.
You own the shutdown—your own words, @realDonaldTrump. The Senate UNANIMOUSLY passed a bipartisan solution to avoid a shutdown. Then you threw another temper tantrum and convinced the House to ignore that compromise. #TrumpShutdown pic.twitter.com/h4R7Qk6E1i
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 21, 2018
If the shutdown happens, it would be the second of the year.
Another spending dispute in January saw a three-day shutdown amid a dispute over the future of the so-called 'dreamers' - young immigrants who were brought to the US illegally as children.
