Senators Vote to Continue Shutdown for 13th Time

The U.S. Senate voted for the 13th time and again failed to reopen the government, Lisa Hornung reported for United Press International (UPI).

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Republicans must begin negotiations on the health care issue.

Democrats refuse to back down from their insistence on funding for health care, while Republicans continue to oppose it.

The government shutdown is now on Day 36. Senators voted 54–45 on the funding measure, which would have funded the government through Nov. 21. It needed 60 votes to pass.

Three members of the Democratic caucus voted for the House-passed funding bill: Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), and Angus King (I-Maine).

The vote came a day after the largest labor union in the U.S. called on lawmakers to reopen the government. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 federal workers, urged both parties to end the standoff.

“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” said AFGE President Everett Kelley in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Republicans must begin negotiations on the health care issue.

“Republicans do not even want to talk about fixing health care,” The Hill reported Schumer as saying. “Americans are on the brink of a health care crisis unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes.”