Democrats block govt funding package in Senate

Washington: Democrats voted to block legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security and several

other agencies Thursday as they continued to negotiate with Republicans and the White House on new restrictions for President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement.

Thursday’s 45-55 test vote came as Democrats have threatened a partial government shutdown when money runs out on Friday.

But Trump said just ahead of the vote that “we don’t want a shutdown”

and the two sides were discussing a possible agreement to separate homeland security funding from the rest of the legislation and fund it for a short time.