Senate rejects both parties' bills to avoid a shutdown, leaving next steps uncertain

The Republican House passed a bill to avoid a government shutdown, sending it to the Senate, which is expected to reject it ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline.

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Friday to block dueling Republican and Democratic proposals to keep the federal government funded on a short-term basis, raising the chances of a shutdown at the end of the month.

The Republican plan, which passed by GOP-controlled House by a vote of 217-212 earlier Friday, fell short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate: The vote was 44-48, with Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to vote yes, and Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska the only Republicans voting no.

A competing Democratic plan also failed to clear the 60-vote threshold. That vote was 47-45, along party lines, with seven senators — all Republicans — missing the vote.

The failures underscore the divide between the two parties and leave Congress with no clear path forward to avoid a government shutdown that is set to begin on Oct. 1 at 12:01 a.m. Both chambers are expected to take at least part of next week off for Rosh Hashanah.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump repeatedly bashed Democrats before saying, "We’ll continue to talk to the Democrats, but you could very well end up with a closed country for a period of time."