President Donald Trump is meeting with his Homeland Security secretary and other officials to discuss border security issues as a partial government shutdown over his US-Mexico border wall entered Christmas without a clear resolution in sight.
Though both sides have traded offers over the dollars, they remain far apart on the wall.
US President Donald Trump is all home alone this festive season. Source: AAP
The White House insists Trump will reject any deal that does not include money for a wall or fence; Democrats are holding firm in their opposition to a wall or other physical barrier.
In a joint statement on Monday, the Democratic leaders Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi said as long as Trump keeps listening to the Freedom Caucus and others on the right flank, there is no easy resolution to the impasse.
"It's Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos," the leaders said.
They pointed to problems beyond the shutdown, including the plunging stock market and the president's firing of the defence secretary.
"The president wanted the shutdown, but he seems not to know how to get himself out of it."
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said a counteroffer was presented over the weekend to Schumer. Mulvaney would only say the offer was between Trump's $US5.7 billion request and the $US1.3 billion Democrats have offered.
"We moved off of the five and we hope they move up from their 1.3," he said on Sunday.
Mulvaney said he was awaiting a response from Schumer, whose office said the parties remained "very far apart".
Trump chimed in from the White House, where he has been cooped up since the shutdown began early on Saturday.
The National Christmas Tree near the White House in Washington. Source: AAP
"I am all alone (poor me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed Border Security," Trump tweeted.
"At some point the Democrats not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!"
Trump put off plans to head to his Florida estate for Christmas and remained in Washington. His wife, first lady Melania Trump, was returning from Florida to spend the holiday with him at the White House.
The president scheduled a border security meeting Monday afternoon at the White House with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other department officials, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
First Lady Melania Trump is set to return home shortly. Source: AAP
Senate negotiators are continuing talks behind the scenes with Democrats and Republicans.
In their statement, Pelosi and Schumer said "different people from the same White House are saying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his Trump Shutdown, making it impossible to know where they stand at any given moment."
Trump blamed Democrats for the stalemate, tweeting on Monday that "Virtually every Democrat we are dealing with today strongly supported a Border Wall or Fence. It was only when I made it an important part of my campaign, because people and drugs were pouring into our Country unchecked, that they turned against it. Desperately needed!"
Mulvaney predicted the shutdown could stretch into January, when Democrats assume control of the House.
Justin Goodman, a spokesman for Schumer, countered: "If Director Mulvaney says the Trump Shutdown will last into the New Year, believe him, because it's their shutdown."
