WASHINGTON (AP) — With a government shutdown just hours away, Democrats and Republicans angrily blamed each other and refused to budge from their positions Tuesday, unable to find agreement or even negotiate as hundreds of thousands of federal workers stood to be furloughed or laid off .

The partisan standoff over health care and spending is threatening to trigger the first U.S. government shutdown in almost seven years at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. To avoid it, the Senate would have to pass a House measure that would extend federal funding for seven weeks while lawmakers finish their work on annual spending bills .

The Senate was voting on that legislation Tuesday evening after rejecting a Democratic alternative that would keep the government open and extend health care benefits that e

See Full Page