The second-longest government shutdown enters its 24th day with Congress out of session and the funding lapse heading toward next week.

Carl Hulse is the chief Washington correspondent for The Times, primarily writing about Congress and national political races and issues. He has nearly four decades of experience reporting in the nation’s capital.

The stopgap bill, which would extend government funding until Nov. 21, was defeated after a 49-45 vote. It required 60 votes to pass and has now extended the shutdown to two weeks. The Senate will reconvene and vote again on Oct. 15, marking the ninth voting session on the funding bill.

The Senate failed to advance two partisan bills that would have paid some federal workers during the shutdown. Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked as the shutdown drags on.

Action News Now reporter Margot Rowe reports on the bipartisan effort by Democrat Adam Schiff of the Untied States Senate and Republican Doug LaMalfa of the United States House of

The United States Senate has confirmed Chad Meredith from Lexington to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

Colorado and Virginia are two states that lean Democratic, though both have shown some purple tendencies in the past. Democratic leaders in the two states have signaled a new willingness to redraw their Congressional maps in recent days following new efforts in North Carolina and Indiana led by Republicans.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appealed Thursday for calm as tensions rose with Washington, saying in English: “No crazy war, please!” His plea followed US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had authorised covert action against Caracas amid an expanding US military campaign targeting alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific.