Democrats vote down GOP funding bill, putting government on path to shutdown

"A government closure would mean that hundreds of thousands of federal workers could be furloughed or laid off. Trump threatened retribution on Democrats for a potential shutdown, saying Tuesday that it could include "cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like." Instead of negotiating, Democrats and Republicans angrily blamed each other Tuesday and refused to budge from their positions."

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

Senate Democrats voted down a Republican seven-week funding extension, with a 55-45 vote falling short of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. Democrats vowed to close the government to press health-care demands, while Republicans insisted the stopgap was a "clean" bill and refused changes. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of bullying and called on the president to intervene after a White House meeting produced little progress. A shutdown could furlough or lay off hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Republican leaders said they would not be held hostage by Democratic demands and the House was in recess.

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