US government shuts down as partisan blame game heats up
Posted January 20, 2018 6:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government has shut down at the stroke of midnight Friday. That has halted all but the most essential operations and marred the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration in a striking display of Washington dysfunction.
Last-minute negotiations crumbled as Senate Democrats blocked a four-week stopgap extension in a late-night vote, causing the fourth government shutdown in a quarter century. Behind the scenes, however, leading Republicans and Democrats were trying to work out a compromise to avert a lengthy shutdown.
Congress scheduled an unusual Saturday session to begin considering a three-week version of the short-term spending measure.
With no apparent indications of a breakthrough in the Senate to avoid a government shutdown, the Capitol is illuminated in Washington, Friday evening, Jan. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Associated Press
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, is surrounded by reporters following a TV interviewed about a possible government shutdown at the White House, in Washington, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
The Associated Press
President Donald Trump waits to be introduced to speak to the March for Life participants from the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney, right, and Marc Short, left, White House director for legislative affairs, speak to members of the media in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, about a potential government shutdown this weekend. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
The Associated Press
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., arrives at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, as a bitterly-divided Congress hurtles toward a government shutdown this weekend in a partisan stare-down over demands by Democrats for a solution on politically fraught legislation to protect about 700,000 younger immigrants from being deported. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Demonstrators rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and to avoid the government shut down on Capitol Hill, Friday, Jan. 19, 2018, in Washington. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Associated Press
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