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By HEATHER CAYGLE<\/a>, BURGESS EVERETT<\/a> and RACHAEL BADE<\/a><\/p>\n Federal workers woke up to to a partial government shutdown Saturday that could last through Christmas or even the New Year, according to multiple congressional sources, despite the appearance of progress towards a deal late Friday.<\/p>\n The gloomy outlook comes as one-quarter of the government entered shutdown mode at midnight, including nine Cabinet departments, several major agencies and roughly 800,000 federal workers who are impacted by the lapse in funding.<\/p>\n Trump canceled plans to fly to his Mar-A-Lago resort Saturday, with it unclear if or when the president will join his family in Florida for the holidays. But the Capitol was largely quiet, with no meetings among House and Senate leaders scheduled and most lawmakers gone.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we see anything major happening until after Christmas,\u201d said one senior Republican aide. \u201cMaybe on the 26th or 27th, we start seeing movement again.\u201d<\/p>\n The onus, congressional aides in both parties said, is on the Senate to find a way forward. Republicans in the upper chamber need nine Democrats to clear the 60-vote threshold to re-open the government, so Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) \u2014 in tandem with Trump \u2014 would have to make some sort of deal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Unless McConnell goes for the Nuclear Option, and passes the bill with a simple majority. That will be a tough sell among the Republican Senators, though, as several have stated they would vote against the rules change needed to invoke the option. If it did pass, it certainly would be used by the Dems when they get the upper hand some time in the future. <\/p>\n As I went out and about today, I noticed pretty heavy traffic for a weekend, and the parking lots were full at the retail stores- Christmas shopping no doubt. The traffic lights worked as usual, there were no uniforms in sight, and every one was pretty civil and considerate. Government shutdown? No sign that I saw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"