The US government began a Christmastime shutdown early Saturday, after Congress adjourned without passing a federal spending bill or addressing President Donald Trump’s demand for money to build a border wall.
Operations for several key agencies ceased at 12:01 am Saturday (5:01 GMT), despite last-ditch talks that continued on Capitol Hill between White House officials and congressional leaders in both parties.
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Both the US House of Representatives and the Senate adjourned after Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said there would not be a vote late on Friday in the Senate, the CNN reported.
This is the first time in 40 years that the government has been closed three times in a year. It took effect after US lawmakers failed to break a budget impasse.
It means the departments of Transportation, Agriculture, State, Housing and Urban Development will remain shut and federal national parks and forests will also be close, the BBC said.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will have to work unpaid or be put on temporary leave, the report said.
On Friday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence, budget director Mick Mulvaney and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, all arrived on Capitol Hill, where they remained into the evening.
Shortly thereafter, Republican Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker said on the Senate floor that an “understanding has been reached” that the Senate will not take any further votes related to the funding issue “until a global agreement has been reached between the President” and congressional leaders.
(With inputs from agencies)
