Nancy Pelosi has been elected to her second stint as speaker of the US House of Representatives as the Democrats assert their new power over the Trump administration.

Veteran Californian congresswoman Ms Pelosi was sworn in to the cheers and applause of the newly-installed Democratic House majority Friday morning (Australian time) after receiving 220 votes in the 435-member chamber.

On the first day of divided government in Washington since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, Democrats manoeuvred to pass legislation to end a 13-day partial government shutdown.

The Democrats took control in the House from Mr Trump’s fellow Republicans, who remain in charge of the Senate.

The 2019-2020 Congress convened with roughly a quarter of the federal government closed, affecting 800,000 employees.

The shutdown was triggered by Mr Trump’s demand last month for $US5 billion ($7.1 billion) for a US-Mexican border wall – opposed by Democrats – as part of any legislation funding government agencies.

Ms Pelosi confirmed the Democrats would not approve funding for Mr Trump’s border wall in an interview that aired at the time of her swearing in.

“There is no amount of persuasion he [Mr Trump] can do to say to us, ‘We want you to do something that is not effective, that costs billions of dollars’,” she told NBC’s Today.

Congressional leaders from both parties held unproductive talks with Mr Trump at the White House on Wednesday and are to return for another round later Friday, a sign the shutdown is likely to continue for the rest of the week.

With the selection of Ms Pelosi as House speaker, the chamber was then expected to turn quickly to votes on the Democratic government funding legislation.

The two-part Democratic package includes a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security at current levels through to February 8, providing $US1.3 billion ($1.9 billion) for border fencing and $300 million ($428 million) for other border security items.

The second part would fund the other federal agencies that are now unfunded, including the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Commerce and Justice, through to September 30.

However Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signalled the Democratic legislation has no future in the Senate, saying it will not take up any proposal that does not have a real chance of getting Mr Trump’s signature.

Mr Trump on Thursday accused Democrats of playing politics.

“The Shutdown is only because of the 2020 Presidential Election,” he wrote on Twitter.

The Shutdown is only because of the 2020 Presidential Election. The Democrats know they can’t win based on all of the achievements of “Trump,” so they are going all out on the desperately needed Wall and Border Security – and Presidential Harassment. For them, strictly politics!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2019

The 78-year-old Ms Pelosi rebuffed a challenge from a group of Democrats pushing for a change in leadership.

She became the first woman to hold the job when she served from 2007-2011 before Republicans held the House majority for the next eight years.

Ms Pelosi used her opening addressed to urge

-with AAP