Get live updates from Capitol Hill as Republicans and Democrats in Congress scramble to avoid a government shutdown.

The U.S. government is under its first federal government shutdown in almost seven years as Senate Democrats have voted down a Republican bill to keep funding the government.

Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget told federal agencies to consider layoffs, or reductions-in-force, if the government shuts down — an unusual move since government workers are usually sent home without pay during a shutdown, rather than laid off permanently.

The Senate on Tuesday spurned a Democratic stopgap spending bill, putting lawmakers a step closer to a government shutdown ahead of the midnight deadline. Lawmakers voted along party lines,

Live from Senate floor as Congress faces a deadline to adopt a spending measure and prevent a federal government shutdown.

Senate Democrats kept their promise to reject any Republican spending bill that didn’t extend or restore health care benefits, choosing instead to force a government shutdown