Procedural Vote On Stop-Gap Funding Fails; Shutdown Looms

It looks like we are headed for at least a temporary government shutdown as the procedural vote in the Senate on the stop-gap bill to keep the government funded failed with only 45 member supporting it. Indicating the kind of problems that Mitch McConnell will have in crafting another compromise option is the fact that 12 Republican Senators voted against this bill. So it is back to the drawing board once again. Democrats have insisted on funding for Flint’s water crisis especially since McConnell included money for flood-stricken Louisiana. McConnell is now floating the idea of removing funding for Louisiana so neither Flint or Louisiana would get any relief. I’m not sure how well that will play on either side of the aisle. And now just the procedural hurdles of getting a bill out of the Senate before Friday night are difficult. Meanwhile, the House is just sitting there and waiting to see what the Senate will give them and there is no guarantee that they will pass whatever bill the Senate passes on to them. Just the latest example of a party that seems to be incapable of governing anymore.