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The U.S. federal government shut down early Wednesday after President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats failed to reach a funding agreement, halting non-essential services and placing approximately 750,000 public sector workers on furlough without pay.
The shutdown began at midnight, marking the first such closure since a record 35-day impasse in 2019 during Trump's first term. Essential workers, including military personnel, must continue working without immediate compensation, with some likely to miss paychecks as early as next week.
The crisis stems from a standoff over government spending, with Democrats withholding Senate votes needed to pass a Republican funding measure in an effort to force negotiations over planned spending cuts, particularly in health care.
House Republicans have already approved a stopgap funding measure extending through late November while lawmakers negotiate a longer-term budget. But the proposal requires 60 votes in the 100-member Senate, and Democrats say they will not provide support without Republican compromise on spending reductions.
The shutdown affects multiple services used by Americans, from national parks to permit applications, making such closures typically unpopular with voters.
The White House has taken an unusually aggressive stance, with Trump suggesting the shutdown could serve his administration's broader goals of reducing government.
"A lot of good can come down from shutdowns," Trump told reporters Tuesday. "We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn't want. They'd be Democrat things."
The administration has threatened to convert furloughs into permanent terminations as part of Trump's push to enact what he describes as hard-right policies, including eliminating entire government departments.
Democrats are leveraging the funding fight amid what they characterize as grassroots anger over expiring health care subsidies and Trump's dismantling of federal agencies.
Both chambers held votes Tuesday on competing Democratic and Republican short-term resolutions to reopen the government, but both measures failed. Similar votes scheduled for Wednesday were expected to meet the same fate with no compromise in sight.
"It's the job of senators on both sides of the aisle to come together," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN. "And here's what we hope now — that the Republicans have seen they don't have the votes."
Senate Republican leaders need eight Democrats to join their 51-member majority to advance the House-passed bill. Three moderate Democrats crossed party lines in Tuesday's vote, leaving Republicans five votes short.
"Chuck Schumer, at the behest of a bunch of liberal far-left activist groups, has walked his Democrat colleagues into a box canyon. There's no way out, folks," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, arguing the shutdown was "totally avoidable."
"This could have been avoided — it's totally unavoidable — and everybody's now asking the question: how does this end? Well, it ends when the Senate Democrats pick this bill up, passed by the House of Representatives, and vote for it," Thune told reporters at the Capitol.
Talks between the parties have grown increasingly acrimonious, with Trump mocking Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on social media.
Democrats face their own political calculations, aware that parties attempting to force policy changes by blocking funding votes have historically been unsuccessful.
Congress is out Thursday for the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. The Senate returns Friday and may remain in session through the weekend, while the House is not scheduled to reconvene until next week.
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