Senators struggle to find a way forward as government shutdown enters ninth day

WASHINGTON — The consequences of a government shutdown setting in, senators labored Thursday to find a way forward but found themselves struggling to overcome a fundamental lack of trust between the two parties.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday afternoon floated an “off ramp” to the government funding impasse, suggesting that he could hold a later vote on expiring health care subsidies if Democrats would first support a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government.