US federal government officially shuts down

The clock has struck midnight, and the federal government is officially shut down after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure to keep the lights on - and no one inside the Capitol knows what will happen next, Report informs via CNN.

This is the first government shutdown since 2019.

Leaders of both parties are privately and publicly adamant that they will not be blamed for the funding lapse: Republicans insist Democrats need to simply agree to extend current funding for another seven weeks. Democrats refuse to do so without major concessions for lending their votes to pass any funding measure in the Senate.

Senators left the Capitol tonight in a state of deep uncertainty about how long the shutdown could last. The Senate is on track to vote again tomorrow morning on the same GOP funding plan - which Republican leaders have vowed to put on the floor day after day until enough Democrats yield and agree to reopen the government.

The shuttering of the federal government means that hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed, while others who are considered essential will have to keep reporting for work - though many won"t get paid until the impasse ends. Still others, however, will continue collecting paychecks since their jobs are not funded through annual appropriations from Congress.