President Donald Trump meets key congressional Republicans and Democrats at the White House on Monday, hoping to revive stalled spending negotiations on the eve of a looming US government shutdown.

Without Congress passing a bill to fund federal operations before midnight Tuesday night, the government will partially close up shop — and plunge Washington into a new round of political crisis.

A shutdown would see non-essential operations grind to a halt, hundreds of thousands of civil servants temporarily left without pay, and payment of many social safety net benefits disrupted.

Such shutdowns are deeply unpopular in the United States, and Democrats and Republicans alike try to avoid the scenario — while blaming the other camp should such a closure arise.

But with barely 36 hours to go

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