WASHINGTON – Congressional party leaders spent much of Wednesday, the first day of a government0 shutdown, pointing the finger at each other and saying they did not know just how long some government services will remain closed.

Republican House leaders — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson — spent much of the day talking to the media. But real action, or lack thereof, was in the Senate. The House last month passed a resolution, on a largely party-line vote, to authorize government spending past the September 30 deadline to November 21.

For the third time Wednesday morning, the Senate rejected the “continuing resolution” on a vote of 55-45. Sixty votes are needed for passage of financial instruments, and Republicans hold only 53 seats in the Se

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