Democrats kill stopgap spending bill; government headed for shutdown

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and THOMAS KAPLAN
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, showing remarkable solidarity on Friday in the face of a clear political danger, blocked consideration of a stopgap spending measure to keep the government operating, leaving less than two hours for lawmakers to find a way to avert a midnight shutdown of much of the federal government.
Senate Republican leaders fell well short of the 60 votes necessary to proceed on the spending bill, which had passed th