Senate minority leader condemns Republicans after Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer was confirmed by 50 votes to 49 early on Saturday morning
Democrats instigated a government shutdown last year when they refused to approve funding bills without an agreement to extend subsidies for Affordable Care Act health plans. That led to the longest funding lapse in US history, but ultimately no agreement to keep the cost offsets going after the shutdown ended 43 days later.
Some government agencies shut down again briefly earlier this year after Democrats held up a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in protest of the killings by federal agents of two US citizens in Minneapolis during an intensive immigration enforcement drive.
