The White House and a number of federal agencies have started advanced preparations for a partial government shutdown, as President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats appear unlikely to resolve their fight over a border wall before some government funding lapses at week's end.

GOP leaders are scrambling to find a short-term alternative that could stave off a shutdown, which would start on Dec. 22 absent a deal. But White House officials signaled to lawmakers Friday that they would probably not support a one- or two-week stopgap measure. Some congressional Republicans support such a "continuing resolution," but the White House rejection has dramatically increased the odds of a spending lapse.

"We could be headed down the road to nowhere," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "We'll have a [continuing resolution] rather than a shutdown, I hope."

Several budget experts believe a partial shutdown, which would impact agencies that manage law enforcement, homeland security, housing and other programs, could drag on for days, if not weeks. That is in part because Trump believes the final days of the existing Congress are his best chance to extract $5 billion in funds to partially build a wall along the Mexico border. In early January, Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, giving them more control over the process.

Multiple agencies and senior administration officials are preparing for the possibility that about a quarter of the government - and more than one-third of federal workers - could be left without funding.

The agencies themselves are providing scant information about what they will do if their funding lapses, and with the deadline days away, mass confusion remains about what would actually happen in a partial government shutdown.

The Statue of Liberty, for example, closed to thousands of visitors during a brief government funding lapse in January. National parks across the country stayed open, though without visitor centers and fees and with only minimal emergency staff.

National Park Service officials confirmed Friday that parks would stay open this time - but they declined to say whether the Statue of Liberty would again close.

"We are not going to speculate on any possible change in government operations," Jerry Willis, a spokesman for the national park that encompasses the Statue of Liberty, wrote in a text message. He referred questions to the Park Service, where another spokesman wrote an identical message in response to an inquiry.

The lack of clarity on all fronts is seizing Washington just ahead of the Christmas holiday and as Democrats prepare to take control of the House of Representatives, illustrating how jarring the transition in power could be next year.

Trump and some of his conservative allies on Capitol Hill view this as their last, best chance to deliver on the long-promised wall before they lose their grip on power, and they are reluctant to let the moment pass. But Democrats feel no pressure to give in to Trump's demands weeks before they will assume control of the House.

At the same time, a number of Republicans are cringing at the possibility that their two years in control of Congress and the White House could end, shamefully, in a partial shutdown of the government they command. From the sidelines, rank-and-file Republicans are urging Trump and Democratic leaders to find a compromise between Trump's demands for $5 billion for his border wall - even though he long claimed Mexico would pay for it - and Democrats' insistence that they wil spend no more than $1.3 billion on fencing.

"I'm sorry that we're in this situation, because the American people deserve better from both sides," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. "Everybody that's at the leadership level, and I include the president and the Democrats, are putting their perceived political interests ahead of a solution, and ahead of what's good for the American people. And, you know, no wonder people don't like this place."

The standoff intensified following an outlandish televised meeting on Tuesday with Trump, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. During their encounter, the president and his Democratic antagonists doubled down on their demands, and Trump declared he would be proud to shut down the government over border security.

There have not been any serious bipartisan talks since.

About 75 percent of the portion of the federal budget controlled by Congress has been funded through next September, including the Pentagon, Veterans Affairs and the Health and Human Services Department.

But the other 25 percent is operating on a short-term funding extension that runs out Friday at midnight. Unless a deal is reached, the departments of the Interior, Agriculture, State, Housing and Urban Development, Treasury, Commerce, and Homeland Security would lose funding. So would numerous smaller, independent agencies, including the Peace Corps, the Small Business Administration, the National Archives, the Environmental Protection Agency and the General Services Administration.

These agencies' budgets were supposed to have been approved by last October.

About 800,000 of the 2.1 million federal employees across the country would be affected since their offices would lose funding to operate. About 40 percent of them would be sent home without pay, with the rest staying on the job because their work is considered essential to the functioning of the government, according to Capitol Hill aides and the contingency plans the agencies have filed with the Office of Management and Budget.

Federal agencies that will run out of funding were supposed to be notified Friday to begin activating their contingency plans. The plan provides the contours of what a partial shutdown would look like, even as the administration has issued little in the way of public guidance.

One reason for the confusion is that White House budget director Mick Mulvaney has given federal agencies much more leeway to remain open during a shutdown than his predecessors did. For example, he has directed national parks to remain open as they did during the brief shutdown last January, although visitor centers would be closed because their staffs would be sent home, and law enforcement would be minimal. Some agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, have been directed to draw on reserve funding to keep employees at work instead of sending them home indefinitely without pay.

It is unclear if the White House will follow a similar approach this time, as multiple officials declined to comment. And Trump on Friday announced Mulvaney would be elevated to serve as acting chief of staff when the current chief, John Kelly, steps down at year's end.