WASHINGTON – The US Government shut down at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans, locked in a bitter dispute over immigration and border security, failed to agree on a last-minute deal to fund its operations.
In a late-night session, senators blocked a Bill to extend government funding through February 16. The Bill needed 60 votes in the 100-member Senate but only 50 supported it.
Most Democrats opposed the Bill because their efforts to include protections for hundreds of thousands of mostly young immigrants, known as “dreamers”, were rejected by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders.
Republicans, in turn, said they would not negotiate on immigration until Democrats gave them the votes needed to reopen the government.
Huddled negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer were unsuccessful, and the US Government technically ran out of money at midnight.
While the two men said they remained committed to reaching a deal, the shutdown formally began on Saturday, the first anniversary of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
US government workers were told to stay home or, in some cases, work without pay until new funding was approved in the first federal government shutdown since a 16-day funding lapse in October 2013.
The Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives held rare weekend sessions on Saturday, facing a political crisis that could affect November congressional elections. By 7 pm, both chambers resigned themselves to failure and agreed to resume work on Sunday.
Both Republicans and Democrats had dug in during the day, each side blaming the other.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would vote at 0100 EST Monday on a Bill to fund the government through February 8, unless Democrats agree to hold it sooner.
“We’ll be right back at this tomorrow and for as long as it takes for Democrats to vote for legislation that would reopen the government,” Mr McConnell said.
Outside the US Capitol, parks, open air monuments and Smithsonian museums were open as a second annual women’s rights march took place on the National Mall. But visitors were turned away from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York Harbour.
A scheduled trip by Mr Trump and some Cabinet members to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was being assessed on a day-to-day basis, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said.
