The United States CapitolWASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States (US) government barreled towards its first shutdown in six years Tuesday, with funding expiring at midnight after Democrats fought a war of words with Donald Trump and senators rejected a last-ditch bid to keep the lights on. “We’ll probably have a shutdown,” the Republican president had told reporters in the Oval Office before the vote, seeing the writing on the wall. And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats,” Trump added at a later White House event. House Republicans have passed a stopgap measure to extend funding until late November, pending negotiations on a longer-term spending plan. The longest shutdown in history — and the latest — came during Trump’s first term, when government functions were halted for 35 days beginning December 2018.