US govt heads toward partial shutdown as Congress fails to reach funding deal

The U.S. government was headed toward a partial shutdown on Friday (January 30) , as Congress appeared unlikely to approve a deal that would keep a wide swath of operations funded past a midnight deadline. After hours of delay, the U.S. Senate passed the spending package by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29. But the House of Representatives is out of town and not expected to take up the measure until Monday, according to a Republican leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. That means a shutdown is all but certain to begin at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Saturday (0501 GMT).