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Article snippet: Efforts to fund the government hit multiple stumbling blocks on Wednesday, inching lawmakers closer to a potential shutdown. Most lawmakers don’t think the standoff will reach the point of a government closure, but with just eight working days to come up with a plan to avoid the second shutdown of the year, they are running out of time. The two main efforts to keep the government operating have both run into roadblocks, escalating the partisan standoff and increasing the odds, at least, of a closure. “We’re trying to find a path forward, a way to go,” Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman MORE (R-Ala.) said Wednesday. “I think we’re talking to each other, but I don’t know if either one is listening.” To keep the government running, Congress needs to either approve this fiscal year’s spending bills by the end of the month or approve a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that would run through Nov. 21. The stopgap would give Republicans and Democrats time to work out differences on the larger measures. Democrats had put the short-term bill on the House Rules Committee agenda for Tuesday, but they yanked the legislation amid eleventh hour fights on health care and trade. The measure was placed back on the calendar for a vote on Thursday, however, indicating Democrats hope to pass it before leaving town this week. On the other side of the Capitol, Senate Democrats blocked a bill to fund most of the federal government on Wednesday. S... Link to the full article to read more