Large parts of the US government will begin closing down on Wednesday after Congress failed to pass a funding bill ahead of a midnight deadline.
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will be placed on unpaid leave and others will have to report for work without pay until an agreement can be reached in Congress.
Russ Vought, director of the White House budget office, instructed agencies to “execute their plans for an orderly shutdown” after a Republican stop-gap measure to fund the government for another seven weeks was blocked by Democrats in the Senate, falling five votes short.
A Democrat proposal, that would have kept the government open until the end of October while spending $1 trillion to reverse cuts to healthcare programmes, also failed in the Senate.
The shutdown, the first in seven years, could lead to 750,000 federal employees being furloughed for as long as it lasts, according to the Congressional Budget Office, with more being temporarily set aside the longer it persists. Some employees, such as members of the military on active duty, will be expected to continue working even as their pay is paused.
