US President Donald Trump has suggested changing the Senate voting rules to end the government shutdown. Credit:Evan Vucci Senate Republicans oppose changing the chamber's rules so that legislation to fund the government and end the current shutdown could pass with a simple majority, his spokesman said. Current Senate rules require a 'super-majority' of three-fifths of the chamber, usually 60 out of 100, for legislation to clear procedural hurdles and pass. Senate Minority Leader Dick Durbin said allowing Republicans to pass legislation in line with Trump's suggestion "would be the end of the Senate as it was originally devised and created going back to our Founding Fathers." The Senate will vote at 1am (Washington time) on Monday on a bill to fund the government through until February 8, unless Democrats agreed to hold it sooner, McConnell said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, from Donald Trump's Republican Party, has rejected the President's call to change the Senate voting rules. Credit:JOSE LUIS MAGANA Democrats say short-term spending legislation must include protections for illegal immigrants – or 'Dreamers' – brought to the United States as children. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Trump of being an unreliable negotiating partner, saying the two sides came close to an agreement several times only to have Trump back out at the urging of anti-immigration conservatives. Demonstrators outside the US Capitol building hold signs in support of 'Dreamers'. The status of undocumented immigrants taken into the US as children is a key sticking point in efforts to end the shutdown. Credit:ZACH GIBSON Schumer "put a lot on the table" in negotiations on Friday, which Trump accepted then "walked it back," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said on the Fox News Sunday program.

Republicans, who have a slim 51-49 Senate majority, said they would not negotiate on immigration until the government was reopened. New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo says he will use state money to keep the Statue of Liberty open during the shutdown. Credit:Shutterstock With elections set in November for a third of US Senate seats and the entire House of Representatives, both sides are blaming the other for the shutdown. After money for federal agencies ran out at midnight on Friday, many US government employees were told to stay home or, in some cases, work without pay until new funding is approved. The shutdown is the first since a 16-day closure in October 2013. Speaking to US troops at a military facility in the Middle East, Vice-President Mike Pence said the administration would not reopen talks with Democratic lawmakers on "illegal immigration" until the shutdown ended.

New York vows to open Statue of Liberty New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would use state money to reopen the Statue of Liberty in an effort to keep the popular tourist destination operating. The site was among many federal monuments and parks that closed at midnight on Friday when the shutdown was triggered. In the hours leading up to the shutdown, the Trump administration was working on ways to keep hundreds of parks open without staff in an effort to avoid public anger, though it was unclear which ones would close. "Not all parks are fully open but we are all working hard to make as many areas as accessible to the public as possible," US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said.

In Washington, the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo will open on Monday, using prior-year funds. The Smithsonian said it would update its status beyond Monday "as soon as we know." Tourists in New York on Saturday expressed disappointment that they were unable to take the ferry to the island that's home to Statue of Liberty. During the last shutdown in 2013, a number of governors used state funds to keep certain parks open, including the Statue of Liberty, which at that time cost $US61,600 ($76,000) a day to keep open. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Cuomo called it a "gross injustice" to close down the statue, a symbol of American freedoms. The Democratic governor said he would use state money to pay for operations because the statue was an emblem of New York and the United States, and because the cost was justified from a tourism standpoint.

"We're going to be talking to the federal government as soon as somebody answers the phone," he said. In Arizona, Republican Governor Doug Ducey vowed last week to keep the Grand Canyon open using state funds. Loading But in South Dakota, home of Mount Rushmore, Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard on Friday said he would not take similar action. Reuters