Meanwhile, a federal judge has laid out a path for the administration to fund SNAP benefits, which ran out on Saturday, saying the administration could tap more than $5 billion in emergency funds, as well as a much larger pot of tariff revenue collected by the Agriculture Department to fund the program.

Senate Republicans have long resisted the temptation of going nuclear on the filibuster, a move more often made by Senate Democrats when they controlled the upper chamber.

Judges blocked the Trump administration from halting SNAP aid during the shutdown, ordering the use of contingency funds to keep payments going.

President Donald Trump's administration cannot suspend food aid for millions of Americans during the ongoing government shutdown, two federal judges ruled on Friday, saying the government must use contingency funds to pay for the benefits.

What to know about the Senate filibuster as Trump calls on GOP to eliminate it That means the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats continues with no obvious end in sight. If not resolved before Wednesday,

The peculiar US political phenomenon known as the filibuster is once again in focus. The filibuster is the prerogative enjoyed by the minority party in the Senate to demand never-ending debate to thwart legislation,

Back from a week abroad, President Donald Trump threw himself into the shutdown debate, calling on the Senate to scrap the filibuster and reopen the government, an idea swiftly rejected Friday by Republican leaders who have long opposed such a move.