The U.S. government was to begin a partial shutdown at midnight on Friday after Republican senators failed to muster the votes needed to approve $5 billion that President Donald Trump wants for a border wall fiercely opposed by Democrats.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters.

Trump sought to blame Democrats, who responded by reminding him that he said last week he would be “proud” to shut down key parts of the federal government in order to get funding for a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

“We’re going to have a shutdown. There’s nothing we can do about that because we need the Democrats to give us their votes,” Trump said in a video posted to his Twitter account about two hours before a midnight deadline to pass a stop-gap spending bill. “The shutdown hopefully will not last long.”

Republican and Democratic senators had this week reached a deal on short-term funding legislation that did not include the $5 billion Trump wants, but the president said on Thursday he would not sign it.

The shutdown was the latest evidence of dysfunction in Washington and does not bode well for next year, when Democrats will have a stronger hand as they take control of the House of Representatives.

“President Trump has thrown a temper tantrum and now has us careening toward a ‘Trump shutdown’ over Christmas,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor.