Senate Democrats say they have secured the votes to block a House plan to fund the government through mid-February. A Democratic aide confirmed that the caucus will be able to block Republicans from getting the 60 votes needed to overcome an initial procedural hurdle. ADVERTISEMENT "Yes. And with the Republicans it's not close," the staffer told The Hill, asked whether Democrats will be able to block the legislation.

The Senate could take its first vote on the bill as soon as Thursday evening, though the chamber's rulebook would allow opponents to delay a first vote until early Saturday morning — past the shutdown deadline.

GOP leadership signaled on Thursday that they would move forward with the House bill as they angle to blame the shutdown on Democrats.

But Democrats counter that Republicans left them out of the negotiating process and want concessions on issues ranging from health care spending to immigration.

A bipartisan group of senators has floated passing a days-long continuing resolution to buy negotiators more time to work out a deal on the budget and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which the Trump administration is ending.