WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said late Friday that he hopes an impending partial shutdown of the federal government will not "last long."
"We are going to have a shutdown, there is nothing we can do about that, because we need the Democrats to give us their votes," Trump said in a video released on Twitter.
"The shutdown will hopefully not last long," Trump added.
The message came after U.S. lawmakers failed to reach an agreement earlier in the day over a stopgap funding measure that includes funding for Trump's long-promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign but firmly opposed by Democrats.
The partial shutdown, scheduled for Friday midnight (0500 GMT on Saturday), would affect several federal departments and hundreds of thousands of employees.
