Senate Fails to Clear Funding Bill Before Shutdown Deadline

The U.S. Senate late Friday night failed to advance a spending bill that would have funded the federal government through Feb. 16. In doing so, lawmakers triggered a government shutdown at midnight. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) told reporters that senators were still working on a shorter term proposal that could pass the Senate with the necessary 60 votes. But that plan failed to materialize before midnight. The funding bill that the House approved on Thursday—and which the Senate failed to move—would have also reauthorized the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. Democrats in the House and Senate objected to the measure over the failure to include legal protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. A shorter term funding measure, such as the one Corker discussed, would give lawmakers time to finalize a potential agreement on that issue of undocumented immigrant children.