The federal government will shut down just past midnight, as Senate Democrats on Tuesday rejected a Republican bill that would have extended funding for seven weeks but did not resolve an increasingly acrimonious standoff over their demands for health care policy changes.
The Senate voted 55-45 on the measure, leaving Republicans five votes short of the 60 vote threshold for the measure to advance. Only two Democrats—Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania—voted for the measure, along with Sen. Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against it.
The two sides remain far from reaching a deal to fund the government, and it’s unclear how long a shutdown will last. Following the vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he anticipates holding more votes this week on the Republican measure. But Democrats, still reeling from drawing widespread criticism for helping Republicans avoid a shutdown in March, appear committed this time to not give in without extracting concessions on health care and other priorities.
The result is a political stalemate on the verge of shuttering vast portions of the federal government and furloughing hundreds of thousands of workers. It will be the first government closure in nearly seven years. Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, confirmed in a memo released after the vote that “affected agencies should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown.”
Read more: What Cuts to FEMA, Climate Agencies Mean During a Government Shutdown
Republican leaders, along with the Trump Administration, have argued that Democrats are holding the government “hostage” and that no policy negotiations can take place under those circumstances. “Democrats may have chosen to shut down the government tonight, but we can reopen it tomorrow,” Thune said after the failed vote. “All it takes is a handful…
