Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby Richard Craig ShelbySenate GOP eyes early exit Dems discussing government funding bill into February GOP short of votes on Trump's controversial Fed pick MORE (R-Ala.) says he warned President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE in a White House meeting Thursday afternoon that Republicans should avoid a partial government shutdown over the president’s desire for a border wall.

Shelby and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellFEC flags McConnell campaign over suspected accounting errors Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ky.) returned to Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon after meeting with Trump.

Newly-elected Senate Republican Whip John Thune John Randolph ThuneOvernight Defense: Stopgap spending measure awaits Senate vote | Trump nominates former Nunes aide for intelligence community watchdog | Trump extends ban on racial discrimination training to contractors, military Remote work poses state tax challenges Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot MORE (S.D.) also attended the meeting.

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“I said we shouldn’t ever want to shut down the government,” Shelby told reporters when asked about discussion about a possible shutdown.

“I think maybe he agreed, I don’t know,” he said of Trump’s response.

“We had a nice discussion,” he added, describing Trump as being “in a good mood.”

Shelby noted that government funding is going to expire on Dec. 7.

McConnell told reporters that he thinks a partial government shutdown will be avoided.

“We had a good discussion about funding the government and the other sort of year-end items and we’re optimistic we’ll be able to get that done, get the Farm bill done,” he said.

“We talked about border security and how to resolve this. We’re optimistic we have a way forward,” he added.

Asked what the year-end government funding deal would look like, McConnell replied, “I’ll tell you when we get it.”

Trump has asked Congress for $5 billion to fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border but the president and GOP leaders did not talk about a specific funding amount, according to Shelby.

“I feel pretty good we’ll be able to work this out,” he said, adding “We did not get any of the figures or anything today.”