Watch as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds her weekly news conference

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding her weekly news conference as a US government shutdown looms.

Ms Pelosi suggested on Monday that Democrats could slash entire pieces of President Joe Biden’s economic plan to push it through Congress.

The party has acknowledged they will likely have to cut $1 trillion or more from their $3.5 trillion social and climate proposal in order to pass legislation with a razor-thin majority and no Republican votes.

"It is essential that difficult decisions must be made very soon," Ms Pelosi wrote to House Democrats.

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