President Donald Trump at the White House in December. (Olivier Douliery | Abaca Press/TNS)

WASHINGTON -- Will President Donald Trump preside over his third government shutdown in two years? The deadline is Friday.

A big holdup is over increasing funding border security. Trump initially insisted that Congress give him $5 billion for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border that he initially promised Mexico, not U.S. taxpayers, would pay for.

"I am proud to shut down the government for border security," Trump said during a Dec. 11 meeting with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, in line to become speaker next month, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

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White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to the media at the White House on Tuesday. (AP Photo | Andrew Harnik)

On Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the wall would not be a sticking point in budget negotiations and the administration would seek to find money for construction elsewhere in the federal budget.

"We're looking at every avenue available to us," she said at a White House news briefing. "The president has asked every one of his Cabinet secretaries to look for funding that can be used to protect our borders and give the president the ability to fulfill his constitutional obligation to protect the American people by having a secure border."

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Sanders said she wanted to see what could pass the Senate before committing to sign legislation keeping the government open.

"Once they make a decision, and they put something on the table, we'll make the determination on whether or not we'll move forward on either a short-term or long-term spending bill," she said.

Much of the government already is funded through Sept. 30. Still, several agencies, including Homeland Security, would run out of money without legislation.

Congress could fund those agencies for the rest of the fiscal year, or simply pass a temporary short-term bill at current levels of funding and come back in January to finish the work. But by then, the Democrats will control the House, giving the Republicans less clout than they have now.

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No temper tantrum will get @realDonaldTrump his wall.



The GOP has until Friday to figure out how to avoid a #TrumpShutdown.



But @NancyPelosi & I haven't heard whether @WhiteHouse or Republicans in Congress will accept either of the options we offered. https://t.co/wLKOhaqnYd — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 17, 2018

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Here's what has to be resolved, and the impact of a shutdown.

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President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, second left, meet with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, right, and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California in the Oval Office in December. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci)

The wall

Trump has demanded a wall along the southern U.S. border, even as congressional Democrats have agreed to beef up security through other means.

The problem for Trump is that House Republicans have never mustered enough support to pass wall funding, and, even if they did, Senate Democrats could block it in their chamber.

Besides the wall funding, Schumer rejected an alternative plan to give Trump $1 billion over and above the $1.6 billion that senators already have agreed to.

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Anytime you hear a Democrat saying that you can have good Border Security without a Wall, write them off as just another politician following the party line. Time for us to save billions of dollars a year and have, at the same time, far greater safety and control! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 17, 2018

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President Donald Trump during a lunch with lawmakers at the White House in June. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen is at right. (Doug Mills | The New York Times)

Gateway Tunnel

The unfinished spending bills include transportation.

Earlier this year, lawmakers got around Trump's veto threat by tucking at least $540 million for a new Hudson River train tunnel in several different accounts.

As he helps draft the final spending bill of his 24-year House career, Appropriations Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., has vowed to fund Gateway over Trump's objection. It remains to be seen whether he has any clout left to deliver.

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National parks

President Barack Obama responded to the House Republican-led 2013 federal government shutdown by closing the national parks and monuments, successfully reasoning that the public would be upset.

Trump kept the parks open when the government shut down under his watch..

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In this 2012 photo, a TSA screener checks boarding passes and identification at a security checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport. (Jennifer Brown | The Star-Ledger)

Airport screeners

Transportation Security Administration screeners are considered essential personnel, so they will be on duty during some of the heaviest travel days on the calendar.

But they won't get their pay checks until a spending bill was passed. Ditto the U.S. Border Patrol and the FBI.

In fact, more than 420,000 federal employees, many of them in law enforcement, will be working without pay, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats.

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You'll do without

The Small Business Administration could no longer process loans. Sales of leases for oil, gas, coal and other minerals would be suspended. Federal Housing Administration loans would be delayed.

Social Security checks, though, would still be processed as usual.

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A woman drops off her mail in a New Jersey mailbox. (Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The mail will go through

Snow, rain, heat and gloom of night don't stop the mail, and neither would a government shutdown.

The U.S. Postal Service, with its own budget and own source of revenue, would continue delivering letters and packages.

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Here's who will be blamed

A majority of U.S. voters, 51 percent, would blame Trump and congressional Republicans if the federal government shut down, according to a Quinnipiac University poll. Congressional Democrats would be blamed by 37 percent.

By 62 percent to 34 percent, voters said the government shouldn't be shut down because of the border wall, and, by 54 percent to 43 percent, oppose its construction altogether .

"A blunt holiday greeting card for President Donald Trump: Don't build a border wall and don't shut down the government to try to get it done," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.

The survey of 1,147 voters was conducted Dec. 12-17 and had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.

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The Democrats, are saying loud and clear that they do not want to build a Concrete Wall - but we are not building a Concrete Wall, we are building artistically designed steel slats, so that you can easily see through it.... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

....It will be beautiful and, at the same time, give our Country the security that our citizens deserve. It will go up fast and save us BILLIONS of dollars a month once completed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 19, 2018

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President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable discussion on the Federal Commission on School Safety report on Tuesday. (Oliver Contreras | Sipa USA/TNS)

About those earlier shutdowns

The first shutdown occurred in January of this year and lasted for three days. Senate Democrats had blocked a bill funding the government unless the measure also included protections for an estimated 690,000 unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children but faced deportation because Trump revoked an executive order allowing them to stay.

The Democrats relented after being promised a later Senate vote.

In February, the government shut down for a few hours while Congress approved spending levels for two years. The deal boosted both domestic and military spending while increasing the federal deficit.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.