WASHINGTON – Hoping to steer the country away from an impending government shutdown , the House of Representatives narrowly passed a short-term funding bill Sept. 19.

But the funding extension is unlikely to succeed in the Senate, meaning a shutdown is still fast approaching.

The House approved the measure largely on party lines, 217-212, and has little chance of passing in the Senate, where a 60-vote threshold means Democrats would need to support it.

Yet leaders of both parties have dug into their positions: Republicans want to keep the government funded at current levels until just before Thanksgiving, while Democrats are using a rare moment of political leverage to demand that the GOP help them reverse looming cuts to Medicaid and lapsing Obamacare subsidies.

In a speech ahead of

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