US government shutdown gets under way amid deadlock over Donald Trump's border wall

Megan White22 December 2018

The US government has partially shut down after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement in the border wall standoff.

After failing to reach an agreement, funding for a quarter of all US federal agencies lapsed at midnight (5am GMT on Saturday).

The gridlock blocks money for nine of 15 Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Interior, Agriculture, State and Justice.

Nine out of 15 Cabinet-level Government departments have shutdown
Getty Images

The lack of funds will disrupt many government operations and the routines of 800,000 federal employees.

Vice President Mike Pence, senior adviser Jared Kushner and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney left the Capitol late on Friday after hours of bargaining produced no apparent compromise.

Late on Friday, Mr Mulvaney told agency heads to "execute plans for an orderly shutdown,” but that officials were "hopeful that this lapse in appropriations will be of short duration.”

Donald Trump has demanded $5bn to start building his border wall
AP

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said: "We don't have a deal. We're still talking."

With negotiations expected to continue, the House and Senate both scheduled rare Saturday sessions.

Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essential and will work unpaid just days before Christmas, while 380,000 will be given a leave of absence, meaning they will stay home without pay.

Some agencies, including the Pentagon and the departments of Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services, were already funded for the year, and will operate as usual.

Mr Trump has openly savoured a shutdown over the wall for months, saying last week he would be "proud" to have one and saying on Friday he was "totally prepared for a very long" closure.

A joint statement by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said: "Instead of honouring his responsibility to the American people, President Trump threw a temper tantrum and convinced House Republicans to push our nation into a destructive Trump Shutdown in the middle of the holiday season."

Looking for a way to claim victory, Mr Trump said he would accept money for a "Steel Slat Barrier" with spikes on the top, which he said would be just as effective as a "wall" and "at the same time beautiful."

The White House said Mr Trump did not go to Florida on Friday as planned for the Christmas holiday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in