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McConnell said as recently as last week that in order to get a Senate vote a bill would need to have both the backing of Democrats and Trump.

It's the fourth time McConnell has blocked the House's DHS bill. He's also blocked legislation three times that would reopen the other departments and agencies, besides DHS, that are currently shuttered because of the partial shutdown and fund them through Sept. 30.

The partial government shutdown, currently in its 32nd day, has forced roughly a quarter of the government to close and approximately 800,000 federal employees to be furloughed or work without pay.

Democrats are trying to build pressure on the Senate GOP leader, who has stuck closely to the president in the funding fight.