The US Congress failed to pass the funding bill, and the government began to shut down at midnight on the 1st

American News -- The US Senate failed to pass a temporary funding bill on the evening of Tuesday (September 30), and the federal government came to a "shutdown" starting from 12:01 am on Wednesday (October 1) (12:01 pm Singapore time). Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be forced to take unpaid leave, some public services may be suspended or delayed, and economic data releases will be affected.

This is the first "shutdown" of the US federal government in nearly seven years.

The US Senate voted multiple times on Tuesday on the Republican drafted temporary funding bill to temporarily maintain government operations, but still failed to obtain the required 60 votes to pass. The Republican Party only has 53 seats in the Senate and requires the support of at least seven Democratic senators to pass the bill.

The New York Times reported that the Senate has adjourned on Tuesday night and plans to resume on Wednesday, indicating that the US government has confirmed a partial shutdown.

Earlier that day, Republicans and Democrats did not engage in negotiations but continued to blame each other, claiming that the other had forced the government to "shut down".

US President Trump has once again threatened to lay off a "large number" of federal employees. He warned that if the government shuts down, he will cancel plans supported by the Democratic Party and lay off more federal employees.

Trump told reporters, "We will lay off a lot of people, and these people will be Democrats

In the latest negotiations on the temporary funding bill, healthcare welfare spending is one of the core differences that have led to the deadlock between the two parties. The Democratic Party is calling for strengthening healthcare related benefits, including extending the enhanced subsidies under the upcoming expiration of the Affordable Care Act at the end of the year and restoring some legally residing immigrants to enjoy the benefits under the Affordable Care Act. The Republican Party opposes this and is pushing to temporarily maintain the current level of government funding.

The operating funds of the US federal government should have come from annual budget appropriations. Both parties in Congress are typically required to pass new annual appropriations bills before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1st. However, due to the intense competition between the two parties in recent years, it is often difficult to reach a timely agreement, so Congress attempts to temporarily maintain the operation of the federal government through temporary appropriations bills. In the past year, the US federal government has faced multiple "shutdown" crises, with Congress passing short-term spending bills in December 2024 and March 2025 just hours before federal funds were depleted.

The latest and longest "shutdown" of the US federal government occurred at the end of 2018 to early 2019. During Trump's first term, the Democratic Party opposed Trump's proposed funding for the US Mexico border wall project, and the two parties fought endlessly over immigration issues, resulting in a 35 day government shutdown.