"If the country shuts down which could very well be, the budget should be handled a lot differently over the last long period of time, many years, but if for any reason it shuts down the worst thing is what happens to our military," Trump told reporters during his visit to the Pentagon to meet with senior military officials ahead of Friday's release of a new US national defense strategy.
According to media reports, US troops still report for duty during a government shutdown, but will not be paid until Congress passes a funding bill.
As the White House spokesman Raj Shah explained later in the day, Donald Trump backs the House effort to avert a government shutdown.
"The President supports the continuing resolution introduced in the House," Raj Shah stated. "Congress needs to do its job and provide full funding of our troops and military with a two-year budget caps deal. However, as the deal is negotiated, the President wants to ensure our military and national security are funded. He will not let it be held hostage by Democrats."
The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has become a stumbling block of the short-term budget bill, set to be adopted by Congress Friday.
The controversy sparked over the Republicans' plan to convince the Democrats to vote for a spending bill without a deal on immigration, simply including a six-year extension of CHIP. Democrats, in their turn, plan to include CHIP's extension into the short-term budget deal.
As the President has explained his position on the stance, he prefers the CHIP to be negotiated as a part of the long-term solution.