Government faces shutdown as funding bill fails in Senate

With a government shutdown looming, Democrats and Republicans angrily blamed each other and refused to budge from their positions Tuesday, unable to find agreement or even negotiate as hundreds of thousands of federal workers stood to be furloughed or laid off.

- BY MARY CLARE JALONICK, LISA MASCARO AND STEPHEN GROVES

The partisan standoff over healthcare and spending threatened to trigger the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years at 12:01 a.m. EDT Wednesday. To avoid it, the Senate would have had to pass a House measure that would extend federal funding for seven weeks while lawmakers finish their work on annual spending bills.

But that bill fell short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate Tuesday night, and as tempers flared, a shutdown seemed all but assured. The vote was 55 in favor, 45 against.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans are trying to "bully" Democrats by refusing to negotiate on an extension of healthcare benefits and other priorities.

"It's only the president who can do this. We know he runs the show here," Schumer said Tuesday morning, after a bipartisan White House meeting the day before yielded little progress.

"Republicans have until midnight tonight to get serious with us," Schumer said.

President Trump and his fellow Republicans say they won't entertain any changes to the legislation, arguing that it's a stripped-down, "clean" bill that should be noncontroversial.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RS.D.) said Republicans "are not going to be held hostage" by the Democrats' demands. The GOP-led House was on a weeklong recess, unavailable for immediate votes even if the Senate did find bipartisan agreement. And far from entering into negotiations, Trump instead posted a fake, mocking video of Democrats on Monday evening after the White House meeting.

On Tuesday, Trump threatened retribution, saying a shutdown could include "cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like."

It was still unclear if either side would blink before the deadline.