The federal government has been shut down for 14 days as of today (October 14), and there appears to be no end in sight for the shutdown. The House of Representatives passed a largely-Republican backed continuing resolution (CR) on September 19 that would fund the government through November 21. However, this plan has been stalled in the Senate, with most Senate Democrats opposing the measure. Passing a CR requires at least 60 votes to end a filibuster in the Senate, and thus far not enough Democrats have joined Republicans to pass the House-passed CR. Instead, Democrats have proposed a variety of policy changes on ... (full story)