WASHINGTON _ As GOP leaders scrambled Thursday for votes to avert a federal shutdown, President Donald Trump undermined the effort with a morning tweet opposing part of the deal.
Passage of the four-week stopgap measure remains uncertain. Conservative Republicans and defense hawks object to yet another temporary measure and want more stable funding.
Democrats are rejecting the package without an immigration deal to protect so-called Dreamers from deportation.
Trump threw voting into further jeopardy Thursday morning when he tweeted against including a six-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program, which Republican leaders had attached to help attract support, particularly from Democrats who pushed for the program.
Trump said funding for the program should be part of "a long term solution," not the stopgap measure. Some speculated that perhaps the president was not aware that the CHIP funding would be extended for six years, rather than the four weeks of the spending bill.
"CHIP should be part of a long term solution, not a 30 Day, or short term, extension!" he tweeted.
The White House has endorsed the stopgap measure, including the funding for the children's program.
By lunchtime, the administration tried to clarify the confusion, insisting that the president supports the current measure in the House.
The president similarly undermined a House vote last week reauthorizing a federal surveillance program until House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., intervened and Trump reversed course.
In remarks at the Pentagon on Thursday, Trump seemed resigned to a federal shutdown.
"It could happen," he said. "We'll see what happens. It's up to the Democrats."
Republicans, who were blamed for government shutdowns in 1995 and 2013, are hoping to shift blame onto Democrats.
But the GOP, with control of Congress and the White House, may be seen by voters as responsible.
