ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Congress had just hours on Tuesday evening to agree on a federal spending bill or risk a government shutdown that would shutter crucial departments and furlough thousands and thousands of federal workers.

As of close of business Tuesday, lawmakers in D.C. were very much at an impasse. Republicans, while they control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, still needed eight members of the upper chamber to side with the GOP for the Senate to pass a bill, as Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would vote “no” on his party’s proposed legislation that would fund the government short-term through Nov. 1.

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In the event of a go

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