THE partial U.S. government shutdown gridlocked Washington for a third day Monday, with the White House budget director saying it could persist into the new year and the next Congress.

A budget deal to end the partial shutdown — which forced several key U.S. agencies to cease operations starting 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 Mick Mulvaney said of the impasse over funding for the wall that President Donald Trump wants to build on the U.S.-Mexico border.

But while trying to pin the blame on Democrats, Mulvaney, speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” 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 Republican Party still controls both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Democrats will take control of the House on Jan. 3, giving them greater leverage in the shutdown talks.

Trump canceled his holiday vacation to Florida due to the budget wrangling.

The president has dug in on his demand for US$5 billion for the border wall, a signature campaign promise that he repeatedly said Mexico would fund.

But Democrats believe they have a stronger hand in the face-off against a president who said he would be “proud” to force a shutdown — rarely popular among the broader public — in the name of tighter border security.

In the absence of a deal, federal funds for dozens of agencies lapsed Saturday, leaving some 400,000 federal workers on furlough. A similar number were deemed essential — including Border Patrol officers, health inspectors and airport security workers — and are remaining on the job without pay.

In another development, Trump announced Sunday that Defense Secretary James Mattis will be leaving the administration Jan. 1, weeks earlier than planned and just days after Mattis’ bombshell resignation letter made clear his policy disagreements with the White House.

In another sign of chaos, U.S. investors are worried that Trump may fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

As stock markets plunged, Trump tweeted: “The only problem our economy has is the Fed.”

On Monday, incoming acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said that President Trump “now realizes” he can’t fire Powell, an acknowledgment that came after reports that Trump has discussed dismissing the Fed chief in recent days amid the stock market’s meltdown.

(SD-Agencies)