US government has shut down due to a funding impasse. A Republican spending bill was rejected by Democrats, leading to potential furloughs for 750,000 employees
The US government officially shut down early Wednesday after Congress and President Donald Trump failed to break a bitter budget impasse, triggering the nation’s 15th funding lapse since 1981 and the first since the record 35-day shutdown of 2018–2019.
Federal agencies began closing operations at 12:01 am, after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican stopgap measure that would have kept government funding flowing through November 21. Democrats demanded the bill include an extension of health-care subsidies and roll back Medicaid cuts, which Republicans refused to attach.
The standoff is set to furlough as many as 750,000 federal employees at a cost of roughly $400 million a day, while essential workers such as troops will continue without pay. The closure is expected to halt the release of key economic data, including Friday’s jobs report, slow air travel, suspend scientific research, and disrupt services across the country.
Trump escalated tensions on Tuesday by warning that the shutdown could pave the way for “irreversible” cuts to programs and jobs, part of his broader plan to shrink the federal workforce by some 300,000 by year’s end. “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” he said, adding that many of those affected would be Democrats.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of trying to “bully” his party into accepting a stripped-down bill. “All they want to do is try to bully us. And they’re not going to succeed,” he said.
Republicans countered that Democrats were holding the government hostage over health care. Senate Majority Leader John Thune called the failed measure a “nonpartisan” bill and argued there was “no substantive reason” for a shutdown, other than politics.
With $1.7 trillion in agency funding at stake — about a quarter of the government’s $7 trillion budget — analysts warned the closure could drag on longer than past shutdowns, given the polarized political climate and both parties’ refusal to concede.
The Senate is expected to hold further votes in the coming days, but with both sides dug in, there is no clear path to reopening the government.
The article originally appeared on Hindustan Times
