US Senate to vote on dueling plans to end shutdown, though neither likely to pass

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate will vote again on Friday on dueling Democratic and Republican plans to end a government shutdown now entering its third day, though there is no sign that either plan will win passage.

Lawmakers do not appear to have made any headway toward a deal that would allow them to resume government funding, and Democrats and Republicans have spent the past several days blaming each other for their failure to keep the government funded beyond October 1, the start of the fiscal year.

Democrats say any funding package must also expand pandemic-era healthcare subsidies due to expire at the end of December, while Republicans say that issue should be dealt with separately.

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has frozen billions of dollars ear