U.S. gov’t shutdown almost certain as last-ditch plan rejected

A U.S. government shutdown appeared almost inevitable Friday after a faction of far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives rejected the party’s own stopgap funding bill.

A day before Saturday’s deadline to fund the federal government, the last-ditch bill proposed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was defeated by 21 Republican dissidents and all Democrats. The vote was 198-232.

The likely shutdown on Sunday will leave about 2 million troops without pay and result in furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers as well as closures of national park sites and possibly other faci...