Shutdown begins as funding talks fail over health care

Congress failed to reach an agreement to extend federal funding before a midnight deadline, and the government entered a shutdown early Wednesday after the Senate rejected competing short-term funding measures that fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The Senate voted 55 to 45 on a Republican-backed, seven-week funding extension and rejected a Democratic proposal, leaving the federal government without an approved budget as of midnight. A small number of members who caucus with Democrats crossed party lines on the Republican measure, but the margin fell short of the threshold needed to advance either plan.

At the center of the impasse were sharply different demands over health care. Senate and House Democratic leaders sought to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits set to expire at year end and to reverse proposed Medicaid cuts, using a funding bill as leverage to preserve those programs. Republicans pushed a stripped-down, short-term funding bill they described as a neutral bridge to allow time to finish annual appropriations work. Republican leaders said that measure was noncontroversial and urged Democrats to accept it, while Democrats said...