WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Friday blocked Republicans’ plan to keep federal funding flowing past a Sept. 30 deadline, demanding concessions on health care and other issues in exchange for their support for a measure needed to avert a government shutdown.
In a pair of back-to-back votes, each party blocked the other’s stopgap spending proposal, escalating a showdown and ramping up the likelihood of a lapse in funding that would close the government at the end of the month.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Republicans have offered a plan to keep federal spending mostly at current levels through Nov. 21 and provide $88 million in emergency funding to bolster security for the members of the executive branch, the Supreme Court and Congress after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie K