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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. There are just five more hours until the federal government potentially

shuts down after Congress didn't reach a compromise. One short-term effort to fund the government

has failed tonight and another appears to be headed that way. Democrats want more funding for

health care, but GOP Senate leader John Thune says now is not the time. And as I've said before,

we're happy to sit down with them

and talk about the concerns they have, the issues they have with, for example, the premium tax

credits, but you've got to do that. You can't do that in the context of a, you know, a hostage

situation. Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden says Republican leaders refused to consider Democrats' requests

for compromise.

We want to work with people.

We've been trying to work with people.

We understand the consequences of what happens, but we've got to be met halfway.

The Trump administration is blaming Democrats for the likely shutdown in messaging to federal

employees on the Department

of Housing and Urban Development website. A red banner warns, quote, the radical left are going to shut

down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people. Unions representing federal

employees have sued the Trump administration over its threats to fire federal employees if there's a government shut down.

NPR's Andrea Shue reports.

The lawsuit stems from a memo that the White House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies last week.

It told agencies to consider sending layoff notices to federal employees working on programs or activities

...