U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on congressional efforts to avoid a government shutdown, telling Democrats on Sunday that Obamacare will die without a cash infusion the White House has offered in exchange for their agreement to fund his border wall.
"Obamacare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going - otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought," Trump said in a Twitter posting.
In a second tweet, he added: "The Democrats don't want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members."
MS-13 is a criminal gang with members of Central American origin.
The president's tweets appeared after White House budget director Mick Mulvaney accused Democrats of "holding hostage national security" by opposing $1.5 billion to help build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, one of Trump's top campaign pledges.
But Trump's online salvo was met by Democratic calls for him to stop making "poison pill" demands.
"The only fly in the ointment is that the president is being a little heavy handed, and mixing in and asking for things such as the wall," Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer said.
"We'd ask him to let us do our work, not throw in some last-minute poison pills that could undo it, and we could get this done," Schumer told reporters.
Trump wants the money included in spending legislation that Congress must pass by Friday to keep the federal government operating through Sept. 30, when the 2017 fiscal year expires.
Mulvaney and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus played down the danger of a shutdown. Mulvaney said talks between Republicans and Democrats could produce an agreement as early as Sunday.
If talks fail, the government would shut down on Saturday, Trump's 100th day in office.