US President Donald Trump has expressed scepticism that US politicians could avoid another government shutdown by reaching a deal on border security that he would accept.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said chances were low that Congress could avoid another closure of part of the US government in three weeks' time, as he stuck to his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border.
"I personally think it's less than 50-50, but you have a lot of very good people on that board," the president said, referring to the committee of lawmakers appointed to work out a compromise on border security funding.
Another shutdown, Trump told the Journal, was "certainly an option."
Democratic resistance to Trump's demand for $US5.7 billion for a border wall resulted in a 35-day shutdown of about a fourth of the US government, a closure that just ended on Friday.
The five-week standoff damaged the economy, left many federal workers scrambling to make ends meet and tested Americans' patience with delays to air travel, closures of national parks and other disruptions.
After opinion polls showed Americans increasingly blamed Trump for the situation, the president signed a measure on Friday to fund the government for three weeks.
But Trump also threatened to resume the shutdown on February 15 if he does not get what he wants.
Trump also sounded doubtful about a possible deal involving both wall money and a broader overhaul of US immigration laws.
"I doubt it," he told the Journal, when asked if he would agree to citizenship for a group of immigrants known as "Dreamers," who were brought to the United States illegally as children, in exchange for border wall funding.
About 800,000 federal workers were sent home or worked without pay during the shutdown, missing at least two pay cheques that officials are now working to make up for.
"We hope that by the end of this week, all the back pay will be made up," acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said.
Federal workers are owed about $US6 billion in back pay, according to a study released last week.
As a candidate, Trump pledged to build the wall, with Mexico paying for it.
Mexico refused and now Trump wants US taxpayers to pay for the barrier, which he sees as key to curbing illegal immigration and illegal drug flows into the country.
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