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ByEricaWernerand Andrew Taylor TheAssociatedPress WASHINGTON Partisan disputes over health care and President Donald Trump's border wall threw must-pass spending legis- lation into jeopardy Mon- day days ahead of a govern- ment shutdown deadline. The border wall money is fiercely opposed by Dem- ocrats, whose votes are needed to pass the legisla- tion, and they are equally incensed over Trump's threat to deprive former President Barack Obama's health care law of key funds to help poor people. Those were the most pressing unresolved issues confronting lawmakers as they returned from a two- week spring recess to face a critical deadline. Con- gress must pass a $1 tril- lion catch-all spending bill to pay for all agencies of government by midnight Friday or trigger a partial shutdown the next day, which happens to coin- cide with the 100th day of Trump's presidency. The standoff echoed sim- ilar spending fights during the Obama administration when Republicans would push to "defund" Obama's health law over the objec- tions of Democrats. Even though Republicans now control both chambers of Congress and the White House the dynamics are not all that different, given Democrats still have lever- age and Republicans fear that as the party in charge, they would shoulder the blame from any shutdown. "I'm optimistic. I don't think anybody wants a shutdown," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who said there are just a handful of unresolved issues on the core package of spending bills. "The White House and basically the minority leaders of the House and Senate have to have some level of agreement on the things that you're adding." It's increasingly obvious that the House and Senate will have to pass a tempo- rary funding extension of a few days or more to pre- vent a shutdown this week- end and allow more time for talks. "I do not think the elec- tion was a referendum on building a wall to the tune of tens of billions of dollars," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The negotiations over the spending bill took cen- ter stage despite a sepa- rate White House push for fast action to revive health care legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. After signaling last week that they hoped for a vote as soon as this week on a rewritten health bill, White House officials softened their stance Mon- day. Echoing the views of House GOP leaders, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there would be a vote on health care legis- lation when House leaders count the 216 votes needed to pass it. "I think we want to make sure that we've got the votes and we're headed in the right direction be- fore putting some artifi- cial deadline," Spicer said. Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan were embarrassed last month when they had to pull their "Obamacare" replacement bill off the floor without a vote as it became clear it would fail. Since then lead- ers of conservative and moderate factions in the House have been negoti- ating on a compromise al- lowing states to opt out of certain "Obamacare" re- quirements, and they ap- pear to be making prog- ress, although legislative text had not been finalized as of Monday. The original GOP bill eliminated many of the "Obamacare" mandates, offered skimpier subsidies for consumers to buy care and rolled back a Medicaid expansion. Conservatives balked, saying it didn't go far enough. With Democrats unani- mously opposed it remains to be seen whether the deal will come together and at- tract the needed support. Trump talked it up on Twitter, writing Monday, "If our healthcare plan is approved, you will see real healthcare and premiums will start tumbling down. ObamaCare is in a death spiral!" Trump also pushed for his border wall, a central campaign pledge that he still insists Mexico will pay for in the end, though Democrats and even most Republicans doubt that will ever come to pass. Cost estimates for the wall range past $20 billion and Republicans are seeking $1.4 billion as a down pay- ment in the spending bill. WASHINGTON Wall, health care jeopardize bill just days from shutdown SUSANWALSH—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS President Donald Trump, sitting next to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, speaks during a working lunch with ambassadors of countries on the United Nations Security Council and their spouses Monday in the State Dining Room of the White House. NASA, FILE Astronaut Peggy Whitson, center, floats inside the Quest airlock of the International Space Station with Thomas Pesquet, le , and Shane Kimbrough before their spacewalk. By Marcia Dunn The Associated Press CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. Astronaut Peggy Whitson broke the U.S. record Mon- day for most time in space and talked up Mars during a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump. The International Space Station's commander sur- passed the record of 534 days, two hours and 48 min- utes for most accumulated time in space by an Amer- ican. "This is a very special day in the glorious history of American spaceflight," Trump said. His daughter and close adviser, Ivanka Trump, also offered con- gratulations to Whitson from the Oval Office. Whitson said it's "a huge honor" to break such a re- cord. "It's an exciting time" as NASA prepares for hu- man expeditions to Mars in the 2030s, included in new legislation signed by Trump last month. She called the space station "a key bridge" between living on Earth and traveling into deep space, and she singled out the station's recycling system that transforms as- tronauts' urine into drink- ing water. "It's really not as bad as it sounds," she assured the president. "Well, that's good, I'm glad to hear that," he re- plied. "Better you than me." Whitson already was the world's most experienced spacewoman and female spacewalker and, at 57, the oldest woman in space. By the time she returns to Earth in September, she'll have logged 666 days in or- bit over three flights. The world record — 879 days — is held by Russian Gennady Padalka. Whit- son broke the NASA cumu- lative record set last year by astronaut Jeffrey Williams; Scott Kelly holds the U.S. re- cord for consecutive days in space — 340. Whitson is also the first woman to command the space station twice and the only woman to have led NASA's astronaut corps. Behind her was a banner that read: "Con- grats Peggy!! New U.S. High-Time Space Ninja." The sign arrived Saturday on the commercial cargo ship, the S.S. John Glenn — barely in time for Mon- day's celebration. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, who arrived at the space station last week and took part in Monday's call, said the space station is "by far the best exam- ple of international coop- eration." Whitson told the presi- dent that spaceflight takes a lot of time and money, so getting to Mars will re- quire collaboration from other countries to succeed. NASA is building the hard- ware right now to test a new rocket that will carry astronauts farther from Earth than ever before, she said. The debut of the mega rocket is still more than a year away — at least. Astronaut breaks the US space record, gets a call from Trump SPACE 6,578fans+29 this week Facebook Page YOU'LL LIKE WHAT YOU SEE ..andgrowing,everyweek! Daily News Facebook fans receive special posts of breaking news, sports, weather and road closures, clicking right to full stories and photos published on redbluffdailynews.com ... 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