The US government barreled towards its first shutdown in six years Tuesday, with funding expiring at midnight after Democrats fought a war of words with Donald Trump and senators rejected a last-ditch bid to keep the lights on.

Despite frenetic negotiations in Congress, there has been no breakthrough between Democrats and Republicans to fund the government beyond Tuesday -- which marks the end of the fiscal year.

With just hours to spare, Senate Republicans tried to rubber-stamp a House-passed temporary funding patch -- but could not get the handful of Democratic votes required to send it to Trump's desk.

"We'll probably have a shutdown," the Republican president had told reporters in the Oval Office before the vote, seeing the writing on the wall.

Trump's assessment came after a last-

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