Article snippet: at a closed-door dinner. White House officials and congressional Republicans have sought to blame the partial shutdown that is affecting about 25 percent of the federal government on Speaker-designate MORE (D-Calif.). The White House has also attempted to portray a split between Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader MORE (N.Y.) over efforts to secure a deal to reopen the government. “The vice president and I met with Leader Schumer last Saturday, the last time we sat down face to face, and my gut was that he was really interested in doing a deal and coming to some sort of compromise,” Mulvaney said Friday on Fox News. “But the more we’re hearing this week is that it's Nancy Pelosi who’s preventing that from happening.” About a quarter of the federal government closed down last Saturday amid deadlocked negotiations over funding for Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Neither the House nor the Senate held votes this week to reopen the government, and many agencies will likely remain closed into 2019 and when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3. Republicans and Democrats are still divided over Trump’s demand for $5 billion for a border wall as part of any funding legislation to reopen shuttered federal agencies. The Senate had previously passed a government funding bill without extra money for a border wall, but after pressure from conservative allies, Trump declared that he would not sign the bill without money for his signature wall. The House passed ... Link to the full article to read more