Senate to attempt votes on government funding as shutdown continues for third day

Government Shutdown & Funding Bills - The Senate is preparing for another vote on funding bills to potentially end the government shutdown, now in its third day [1] - Democrats are resisting the White House's threat to fire thousands of federal workers [1] - Republicans claim to have presented a clean resolution to keep the government open for negotiations, blaming Democrats for the shutdown [3] - A stop-gap funding bill to extend negotiations by weeks is likely to fail due to insufficient votes [4] - The shutdown could extend until at least Monday if votes fail, as no weekend votes are expected [6] Political Blame & Negotiations - Polls indicate Republicans are receiving more blame for the shutdown than Democrats [2] - The Trump administration has been firing thousands of federal employees outside of the government shutdown since January 20th [2] - The White House and Democrats are in a stalemate, needing to come to the table for conversation to end the shutdown [2] - Some moderate Democrats may join Republicans to keep the government running [6]