Congress is cruising at a steady clip toward a government shutdown at the end of the month, with both parties — and both chambers — pointing fingers at the other while refusing to blink.

Lawmakers from both chambers are in their home states this week after the House passed a GOP-crafted government funding bill that was swiftly rejected by the Senate, along with a competing proposal to keep the government open. Senators aren’t expected to return until Sept. 29 and House lawmakers not until October.

The impasse has created a game of shutdown chicken, as Congress lurches toward the Oct. 1 deadline without a clear path forward and leaders of both parties dig in their heels and cast the blame across the aisle.

"I don't want a shutdown. The president of the United States doesn't want a shutdown. Republicans in the Senate don't want a shutdown,” said Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

“If there's a shutdown,........

© The Hill