WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of federal workers began shutting down operations on Monday with the U.S. government closed, as a bipartisan group of senators tried to negotiate a deal just hours before the full Senate planned another vote to restore funding.
As government employees prepared for the first weekday since the shutdown began at midnight Friday, U.S. senators were to vote at midday on a funding bill to get the lights back on in Washington and across the government until early February.
Support for the bill was uncertain after Republicans and Democrats spent the weekend trying to strike a deal, only to go home for the night short of an agreement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell late Sunday rescheduled an overnight vote on a measure to fund government operations through Feb. 8, for noon today.
At the U.S. Capitol, a group of bipartisan senators met on Monday morning in search of a deal but came out disagreeing on whether progress was made.
“We’re in a pretty good space right now,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said as she left the meeting. But Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said senators remained in a stalemate.
White House legislative director Marc Short told the Fox Business Network he did not believe the Senate would get the 60 votes needed to move on funding legislation that would reopen government.
“I think that that pressure is building, but I‘m not sure we’ll quite get to 60 today,” he said.
President Donald Trump continued blaming Democrats for the funding lapse, citing their demand that protections for young illegal immigrants be included in any deal.
“The Democrats are turning down services and security for citizens in favor of services and security for non-citizens. Not good,” the Republican president said on Twitter.
Democrats have accused Trump of backing out of a number of deals after pressure from immigration hard-liners. The president has not appeared in public since the shutdown began.
Federal employees received notices on Saturday about whether they were exempt from the shutdown, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said. Depending on their schedules, some were told to stay home or to go to work for up to four hours on Monday to shut their operation, then go home. None will get paid.