SAN FRANCISCO President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that a government shutdown is not evitable, but that if there is one, a lot of vital work could be impacted in science and health.

Speaking to reporters after remarks to a group of science and technology advisers in San Francisco, Biden said he did not think anything was inevitable in politics.

A government shutdown is looming as a possibility this weekend unless lawmakers can reach a budget deal.

"If we have a government shutdown, a lot of vital work and science and health could be impacted, from cancer research, to food safety. So the American people need our Republican friends in the House of Representatives to do their jobs: Fund the government," Biden said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler and Franklin Paul)