WASHINGTON — The House and Senate left Capitol Hill Friday evening without reaching a stopgap funding deal, essentially guaranteeing a partial government shutdown at midnight for the third time in two years.
The move followed a vote to open debate in the Senate on a temporary funding bill — a move that left an open channel with the White House for negotiations.
The vote on the bill, which included $5 billion in border wall funding, was held open for more than five hours. It ended just before 6 p.m., when Vice President Mike Pence broke a 47-47 tie vote.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the chamber voted to proceed “in order to preserve maximum flexibility for productive conversation to continue between the White House and our Democratic colleagues.”
More at NBCNews.com.