WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats rejected a pair of stopgap spending bills to keep the government open on Tuesday evening, all but guaranteeing a shutdown at midnight unless both parties can come to an 11th-hour agreement to extend federal funding past the Oct. 1 deadline.
The Senate voted on a Democratic-led proposal as well as a Republican-led one, with both failing to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome a filibuster. Both bills previously failed when brought to the Senate floor earlier this month.
But this time, the vote comes just hours before federal funding is set to expire for a slew of agencies, with only those that are deemed essential to public health, safety or security expected to remain open. It’s not yet clear how top party leaders will proceed with talks to fund the gov