The House of Representatives has rejected a Republican-authored attempt at a short-term spending bill that would have kept the federal government from shutting down, making it much more likely that federal employees will be furloughed or forced to work without pay and many government programmes will be shuttered when the fiscal year ends at midnight on 30 September.
The bill would have provided a 31-day extension to government funding while enacting massive cuts in domestic programmes and new immigration restrictions that were opposed by Democrats.
