The US government officially shut down for the first time since 2019 after Republicans failed to get enough votes on the funding bill.
According to Sky News, the government partially shut down at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT) on Wednesday, October 1, for the first time in seven years after a last-ditch Senate vote failed.
This came after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement on healthcare spending, as the opposition proposed a plan to keep the government funded that went down by 53-47 votes in the Senate, while the Republicans' suggested plan also failed to fetch enough, 55-45, votes.
It marked the first United States government shutdown since a 35-day deadlock that lasted from late 2018 to early 2019 during US President Donald Trump’s first presidency.
The government and opposition blamed each other over the vote failure. White House webpage right after midnight shared a picture of a clock and said, “Democrats Have Shut Down the Government.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the White House claims in the same way on X and wrote, “Donald Trump just shut down the government.”
Former vice president and another Democrat, Kamala Harris, added, “President Trump and Congressional Republicans just shut down the government because they refused to stop your health care costs from rising. Let me be clear: Republicans are in charge of the White House, House, and Senate. This is their shutdown.”
It is worth noting that hundreds of thousands of non-essential federal workers who are not considered crucial for safety or security might be laid off due to the shutdown.
