The Senate on Thursday failed to clear a key procedural hurdle on a crucial government funding package, with a shutdown set to begin on Saturday at 12:01 a.m. ET.
The procedural vote on the six-bill package was widely expected to fail as Democrats demand that the Republican majority strip funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the measure. Democrats want new restrictions on federal immigration enforcement after agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens this month in Minneapolis.
The vote was 45-55, with seven Republicans joining Democrats in filibustering it. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., voted no to reserve a motion to reconsider. The vote increases the likelihood of a government shutdown this week and will likely send Senate Republicans into negotiations with Democrats to find a solution.
In addition to Homeland Security, the package that failed would also fund the departments of Defense, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education. Spending measures need at least 60 votes to avert the Senate filibuster.
“Democrats are ready to pass five bipartisan funding bills in the Senate,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the floor on Thursday. “We’re ready to fund 96% of the federal government today, but the DHS bill still needs a lot of work.”
Altering the bill, including stripping DHS, would require the House of Representatives to vote on it again. The House is out of Washington on recess.
Republicans on Wednesday began opening the door to avoiding a shutdown, expressing a willingness to strip the DHS bill and continue negotiations while clearing the way for the rest of the package. Thune said Democrats are negotiating with the White House on a way forward.
“Let’s hope it lands,” Thune told reporters Thursday.
“There’s a path to consider some of those things and negotiate that out between Republicans, Democrats, House, Senate, White House, but that’s not going to happen in this bill,” Thune said.
— CNBC’s Karen Sloan and Caleigh Keating contributed to this report.
Read the original article here