WASHINGTON

The US Senate on Wednesday failed to advance funding bills to end a government shutdown for the sixth time.

By a vote of 54-45, the Senate did not invoke cloture on the motion to move forward on the House-passed Republican measure.

Senators voting in favor included Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as Independent Angus King. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against it. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz did not vote.

Separately, the procedural vote on the Democratic measure fell short in a 47 to 52 party-line vote. Cruz did not vote.

Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson doubled down on his criticism of Senate Democrats as the federal government shutdown is on its eighth day.

Johnson argued the lower chamber had already done its job by passing a "clean" 24-page continuing resolution to extend government funding and blamed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for refusing to bring the measure to a vote in the Senate.

"The ball is now in the Senate's court. It does us no good to be here dithering on show votes. We did it. We sent the product over. ... It's the most bare minimum that's necessary to keep the lights on for the people, and Chuck Schumer and 43 of his colleagues, Democrats, continue to do the wrong thing," he added.

Schumer slammed Republican “intransigence” for the shutdown.

"It's now been a full week, a whole week, of Donald Trump's government shutdown, and the country is feeling the sting of Republican intransigence," Schumer said on the Senate floor.

More than 700,000 federal employees have been furloughed, and services are being disrupted, Schumer said, urging Republicans to join Democrats in a "serious negotiation" to reopen the government.