U.S. Government Shuts Down After Senate Deadlock

The federal government shut down at midnight on Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to advance either party’s stopgap funding measure. The GOP “clean” bill to extend funding through Nov. 21 failed 55–45, and Democrats rejected the Republican proposal while pressing for health-care measures including extensions of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits and restored Medicaid funding. Three Senate Democrats — Catherine Cortez Masto, John Fetterman and Angus King — broke with their party to vote to keep the government open. The Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to execute orderly shutdown plans that will pause many nonessential services and could furlough roughly 750,000 federal workers while essential functions continue. The White House blamed Democrats for the impasse, Senate Republicans signaled they would hold repeated votes, and it remains unclear how long the shutdown will last amid comparisons to the 2018 closure.