The government shutdown stretched into its third week on Wednesday as Republican and Democratic senators continued to dig in their heels on dueling stopgap funding proposals.
The Senate is set Wednesday afternoon to vote for the ninth time on competing short-term funding resolutions that have failed in eight previous votes.
Republicans insist on a “clean” continuing resolution that would provide funds to reopen the government until at least Nov. 21.
Democrats want any funding bill to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to run out at the end of this year. That and other provisions in the Democratic bill would cost an estimated $1 trillion.
Wednesday’s vote comes days after the Trump administration said in a court filing that more than 4,000 federal employees received notifications that they were being laid off.
