WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government shutdown will enter its third day on Monday as Senate negotiators failed to reach a deal late on Sunday on Democrats’ demand for legislation protecting “Dreamers,” young people brought to the country illegally as children. WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate scheduled a vote for Monday at noon (1700 GMT) on a stopgap spending measure, canceling a planned vote for Monday at 1 a.m. (0600 GMT), ensuring that the federal government will remain closed when the work week begins. Democrats are mulling whether to support that bill after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMajority fear mass shooting in their community: poll Top Democrats press Trump on background checks legislation The Hill's Morning Report - Congress returns: What to expect MORE (R-Ky.) offered his assurances late Sunday that the chamber would take up immigration legislation, regardless of whether the issue is addressed in a yearlong funding package. "Should these issues not be resolved by the time the funding bill before us expires on Feb. 8, 2018, assuming the government remains open, it would be my intention to proceed to legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues," McConnell said on Sunday night, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The two parties engaged in an intense messaging war all weekend over who was to blame for the shutdown, which began when the majority of Democrats and some Republicans rejected a short-term funding bill that did not address DACA or government spending caps. Refusing to support another short-term government funding extension last week, Democrats demanded that the Republican president live up to an earlier agreement to protect Dreamers from deportation.
The United States Senate schedules a vote for noon Monday to fund the government through February 8. Since the Senate did not reach a budget compromise late Sunday evening, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will face furloughs on Monday and many federal government offices will remain closed though some facilities, such as the Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo, are scheduled to be open.