Senate blocks spending bill 3 days before government shutdown

Senate lawmakers blocked a stopgap bill on Tuesday that would temporarily fund the government and provide $1.1 billion for the fight against Zika, just days before a bill is needed to avoid a partial government shutdown after Friday.

The bill failed mostly by the hand of Democrats, who said Republicans must also add federal aid for the Flint, Mich., water crisis before they can support it.

But a dozen GOP lawmakers also voted against the bill, which the conservative Heritage Foundation opposed because it would allow clinics affiliated with Planned Parenthood to access some federal funds, among other objections.

Sixty votes were needed to advance the bill, but it failed 45-55 the first time around. Republican leaders called up the bill again in the hopes it could survive, but it failed again.

The votes send Senate Democrats and Republicans back to the negotiating table with just three days left until the end of the fiscal year. Without passage of some sort of funding bill by then, the government would face a partial government shutdown.