The House prepared to break for the weekend Friday, all but ensuring the partial government shutdown would become the longest in U.S. history, while President Trump continued his efforts to sway public opinion on the need for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The Democratic-led House held its final votes of the week Friday, including on a measure to ensure federal workers who are furloughed receive back pay once the government opens that goes to Trump for his signature.

The House also passed another bill that would reopen more shuttered departments of government — but it was already declared dead-on-arrival in the GOP-controlled Senate because of a veto threat from Trump.

About 800,000 workers missed a paycheck Friday as the impasse between Trump and Democrats stretched into its 21st day. Without a dramatic turn of events, the shutdown would become one for the record books at midnight.

As of late Friday morning, there were no signs of serious negotiations underway. Trump took to Twitter to tout his high-profile trip to the border on Thursday, writing that “I just got back and it is a far worse situation than almost anyone would understand, an invasion!”

“The Democrats, Cryin’ Chuck and Nancy don’t know how bad and dangerous it is for our ENTIRE COUNTRY,” Trump wrote, referencing Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

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Trump asserted that without a wall — or steel barrier — “Our Country cannot be safe.”

Pelosi said Friday that Democrats have not felt any political pressure to give in on Trump’s wall demands.

“No, except to stay firm,” she said.

She dismissed Trump’s negotiating style as one destined to fail. “His version of a negotiation is do everything I want,” she said.

Other Democrats pushed back in television appearances and speeches on the floor.

“One person is responsible for shutting down government: Donald Trump,” House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) told his colleagues, arguing that Democrats are open to tightening border security but were not going to “waste money” on what he characterized as an antiquated approach advocated by Trump.

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Hoyer referenced comments last month by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) in which he described Trump’s call for a border wall as a “metaphor.”

“If it is a metaphor for security, we’re in,” Hoyer said.

House Republicans criticized Democrats for going through the motions of passing the latest in bills to reopen parts of the government unrelated to border security. A bill taken up Friday would reopen the Interior Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service and several other agencies.

The bill passed 240-179, with 10 Republicans joining all Democrats in the chamber supporting it.

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) called the exercise “a charade” because Senate leaders have already indicated they don’t plan to vote on the bill, and Trump has said he won’t sign it.

“If anybody thinks this is accomplishing anything, it’s not,” Cole said.

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“We’ve wasted the week because our friends can’t sit down and split the difference,” he added. “I don’t think anyone looks particularly good in this . . . This will end another sad week in this chamber.”

The bill to ensure workers receive back pay passed 411-7. All those who opposed it were Republicans.

As part of an effort to continue to build a public case for the wall, Vice President Pence was scheduled Friday to deliver remarks to U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees.

Later Friday afternoon, Trump is holding what is billed as a “roundtable discussion on border security” at the White House with state, local and community leaders.

Amid the stalemate, the White House has begun laying the groundwork for a declaration of national emergency to build Trump’s border wall.

The administration is eyeing unused money in the Army Corps of Engineers budget, specifically a disaster spending bill passed by Congress last year that includes $13.9 billion allocated but not spent for civil works projects, The Post reported Thursday.

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The list includes dozens of flood control projects in areas affected by recent natural disasters, including the Texas coastline inundated by Hurricane Harvey and parts of Puerto Rico battered by Hurricane Maria. The military construction budget is also being looked at as a potential source for unspent funds, with billions more potentially available there.

The notion of declaring a national emergency to bypass Congress has divided Republicans, with some seeing it as an encroachment on congressional authority.

On Friday, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló strongly objected to the idea of diverting money intended for hurricane mitigation.

“No wall should be funded by the pain and suffering of citizens of the United States who have suffered a tragedy and loss through a natural disaster,” he said in a statement.

Paul Kane contributed to this story.


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