US President Donald Trump laid out a White House feast fit for a government shutdown on Monday: silver platters heaped high with McDonald's quarter pounders and the red-and-white burger wrappers of Wendy's.

White House chefs normally would serve much fancier fare underneath the stern gaze of the portrait of Abraham Lincoln in the State Dining Room. But they are furloughed, staying home without paychecks as Trump fights with Congress over funding the federal government.

The White House said Trump himself sprang for what he pronounced to be "great American food" for the visiting Clemson Tigers, winners of the US college football championship.

"We have pizzas, we have 300 hamburgers, many, many french fries, all of our favorite foods," Trump told reporters, as one White House worker still on the job lit tapered candles.