White House strategy on government funding meets serious test this week

President Joe Biden and his top aides at the White House plan to hammer away at a blunt message as the US government inches closer to a shutdown this week: A handful of extremist Republicans are entirely to blame for the havoc that would be unleashed across the country.

For Biden, there's a lot riding on that message getting through to Americans.

Biden's advisers have been assessing for weeks how involved to get in lawmakers' deliberations to fund the government ahead of the end-of-month deadline, and ultimately decided to take a hands-off approach. The expectation: Should the Republican-led House struggle to reach consensus, they would ultimately shoulder the blame for any disruption.

"Watch the GOP struggle and force them to govern or be blamed for shutdown," a Biden administration official said, summing up the strategy.

Biden on Monday targeted a "small group of extreme House Republicans" for driving the government toward a shutdown.

"Just a few months ago, the speaker of the House and I agreed to spending levels for the government," the president said, speaking at a meeting with the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. "Now, a small group of extreme House Republicans, they don't want to live up to that deal, and everyone in America could be faced with paying the price."

Biden said they had "made a deal" and "shook hands," but now the group was "reneging on the deal, which is not much of a surprise these days."