Border funding battle snags budget talks in Congress with shutdown days away

• The White House threatened to reject a congressional proposal to fund the Department of Homeland Security, sending lawmakers back to the budget negotiation table.
• Congress has until Friday at midnight to pass six spending bills before a partial government shutdown takes effect.
• The Homeland Security funding fight is the latest instance of border security disputes, a top voter issue in the 2024 election, derailing policy negotiations.

Congress is back at the budget negotiation table this week and border security disputes again are threatening to torpedo talks as a weekend government shutdown inches closer.

On Sunday, the White House told Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other congressional leaders that it could jettison their proposal to fund the Department of Homeland Security via a stopgap measure through Sept. 30 rather than a permanent budget resolution, according to a senior GOP aide. Politico first reported the White House's objection to the DHS bill.

"The White House's irresponsible delay in communicating reality to their congressional allies until the 11^th hour is the real story here. Their delay in communicating has placed us in the brink of a shutdown," the GOP aide said in a statement to CNBC.

The Biden administration's pushback comes as Capitol Hill scrambles to strike a deal on the last six appropriations bills to avert a government shutdown ahead of a Friday funding deadline.

A Democratic aide told NBC News that the White House did not flat-out reject the DHS bill, but the dispute has sent lawmakers back to the drawing board, delaying the release of legislative text on the budget and slowing an already down-to-the-wire voting timeline.

Congress successfully struck a deal on the first six appropriations