The US Capitol building is seen in Washington DC, the United States, on Sep 30, 2025. The federal government will shut down at 12:01 am Wednesday unless the U.S. Congress approves a federal spending bill in the next few hours. Photo:Xinhua

The US government shutdown officially began at 12:01 am after the Senate failed to reach an agreement, rejecting both a Democratic funding bill and a Republican measure. The shutdown will impact millions of federal employees and could disrupt services, NBC News reported.

The shutdown commenced hours after the US Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill that would have temporarily kept the government running. The continuing resolution proposed by Senate Republicans was blocked by Democrats, falling short of the 60 votes required for passage, the Xinhua News Agency reported. It marks the first government shutdown in nearly seven years.

In the latest negotiations, healthcare benefits have been one of the core sticking points between the two parties. Democrats are demanding stronger healthcare-related benefits, including an extension of the enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act set to expire at the end of the year, as well as restoring the act's coverage eligibility for certain immigrants who are legally present, including refugees and asylum seekers, the report said.

Republicans, on the other hand, opposed these measures and have been pushing to temporarily maintain current government funding levels to allow more time for negotiations, it reported.

Earlier on Tuesday, Republicans and Democrats continued to trade blame, accusing each other of forcing the government into a "shutdown."

According to BBC, any shutdown will be the result of an inability of the two parties to come together and pass a bill funding government services into October and beyond.

The Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but in the Senate they lack the 60 votes needed to pass a spending bill.

Democrats, therefore, have some leverage in this case. They refuse to back a bill introduced by Republicans that they say will make it harder for Americans to afford healthcare, and have made this standoff primarily about advancing their healthcare policy goals.

They are calling for an extension of tax credits that make health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans - which are set to expire - and for a reversal of cuts to Medicaid that have been made by Trump. They also oppose spending cuts to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to the report.

Trump himself does not seem optimistic about resolving the impasse. "I just don't know how we're going to solve this issue," CBS News reported on Sunday.

Vice President JD Vance also warned that the government is heading for a shutdown, blaming Democrats. "I think we're headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing," Vance told reporters after the meeting on Monday, Fox News reported.

Not all of government will shut down if Congress doesn't pass a spending bill. Border protection, in-hospital medical care, law enforcement and air traffic control would be expected to continue to operate during the stoppage, the BBC reported.

Since 1976, the US government has shut down 20 times. And while no shutdowns occurred from 1995 to 2013, there have been three in the 12 years since, according to NBC News.

The last shutdown ran from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019 — 35 days in total, making it the longest government shutdown in more than four decades. It cost the US an estimated $3 billion in lost GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office, CNN reported on Wednesday.

Federal employees from agencies across the US government said they're "terrified," "disoriented" and filled with anxiety as they brace for a possible shutdown, which the White House has warned could pave the way for new rounds of fast-tracked mass layoffs, CNN reported in a separate article on September 27.

There is widespread confusion and fear among federal workers as the Tuesday night deadline approaches for Congress to approve a spending package, according to more than a dozen employees across 11 agencies who spoke to CNN. Many are still waiting to find out who will be required to work through a shutdown — and who will be furloughed, according to the report.

The government shutdown, which began on the first day of the new fiscal year, is relatively rare in history, Lü Xiang told the Global Times on Wednesday. He noted that partisan conflict is exceptionally acute, particularly during Trump's second term, which involves key areas such as social security and healthcare.

"Democrats believe these issues are fundamental to their core principles and are non-negotiable, although they say they are still open to negotiations. In contrast, Republicans insist that they will not engage in talks unless the government resumes operations, leaving the two sides at an irreconcilable impasse," Lü explained.

The duration of this shutdown is unpredictable, causing widespread impacts across society, the expert said, noting that federal employees could face prolonged unpaid wages, which may lead to social instability; essential public services and parts of the US Department of Defense's civilian workforce may partially halted; national museums and public facilities may be closed, dealing a blow to the tourism industry and potentially affecting GDP.

This shutdown reflects the sharply intensified conflict and division between the two parties, and its resolution could take a considerable amount of time, the expert said.