The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the Republican-led House of Representatives refused to approve a budget for next year.
A midnight deadline passed without agreement despite a last-gasp appeal by President Barack Obama.
More than 700,000 US government workers face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.
Republicans have insisted on delaying President Obama’s health care reforms as a condition for passing the budget.
It is the US government’s first partial shutdown in 17 years.
With less than one hour to go before midnight, the Republican-led House called for a conference – a bipartisan committee with the Senate to try to thrash out a deal – but Democrats said it was too late to avoid a shutdown.
The White House’s budget office began notifying federal agencies to begin an “orderly shutdown” as midnight approached.
One of the first casualties of the shutdown was the Twitter account for the US Capitol.
“Due to a lapse in government funding, this account will not be active until further notice,” it posted.
Earlier it had warned that the Capitol’s visitors’ centre would be closed if the shutdown went ahead, and all tours would be suspended.
Shortly after midnight, President Obama tweeted: “They actually did it. A group of Republicans in the House just forced a government shutdown over Obamacare instead of passing a real budget.”
House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he hoped the Senate would accept an offer of conference with the House “so we can resolve this for the American people”.
“The House has voted to keep the government open but we also want basic fairness for all Americans under Obamacare,” he said.
The Senate is to meet again at 09:30 (13:30 GMT) on Tuesday, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
The BBC’s Mark Mardell in Washington says the divide in US politics has grown so bitter that government itself cannot function.
10 ways govt shutdown would hurt America
1 Countdown to US default looms
A halt of US government operations would drag the world’s biggest economy closer to bankruptcy, something unprecedented in US history. If no budget deal is done, the US would bump up against their “debt ceiling” and run out of money by October 17. By then, the US government would have less than $30 billion cash on hand, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has calculated.
2 Hundreds of thousands of federal employees on furlough
A one-time layoff of 800,000 people working for the US government would erode the earlier projected economic growth of 2.5 percent for the fourth quarter of 2013 by about 0.32 percentage points, according to a forecast by Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody’s Analytics. That projection assumes a two-week shutdown. If it drags into a whole month, the loss of GDP would rise to 1.4 percentage points.
3 Troops’ paychecks stopped
About 1.4 million military active-duty personnel would keep on working, but with their paychecks delayed. Approval for troops’ paychecks is dependent on Obama’s proposed 2014 federal budget being passed by Congress.
4 Women and children’s nutrition program threatened
Pregnant women and new moms who are poor and facing “nutrition risk” won’t be able to buy healthy food, as a looming shutdown would put bracers on the $6 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC).
5 $85 billion in cuts to federal programs
When a shutdown was last threatened in March 2013, it would have resulted in $85 billion in automatic cuts in spending on federal programs – many aimed at alleviating social hardship. The cuts, known as sequestration, would affect grants to local organizations and funds that keep those programs running.
6 Housing loans halted
US federal programs that provide for about 30 percent of all new loans in the housing market – a backbone of the country’s economy – will be shut down. Government funding of new businesses will also be halted, as well as workplace health and safety inspections.
7 Trade talks scuppered?
US plans to have a Pacific trade deal, the Trans Pacific Partnership, signed with the US’s Asian partners could stall, as Obama may decide not to travel to this weekend’s Bali, Indonesia meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations. While he could still go if no deal is done by then, it could be a gift for his Republican opponents if Obama was seen to be jetting off to a tropical paradise at a time when federal employees were sent home without pay.
8 Visa delays likely
Thousands of Americans may not be able to get passports for foreign travel, and tourists travelling to the US will likely face delays in visa processing. During the last government shutdown in 1996-97, some 20,000-30,000 applications remained unprocessed daily.
9 Space program on hold
Space agency NASA will be hit the most, as the agency will need to furlough about 97 percent of its employees, though it will continue to keep workers at Mission Control in Houston and elsewhere to support the International Space Station, where the two NASA astronauts currently on board, Michael Hopkins and Karen Nyberg, may not know whether they have jobs to come back to.
10 National parks, museums and zoos would close to the public
State-funded museums, art galleries and zoos across the country would keep their doors closed Tuesday, leaving thousands of employees furloughed and visitors unable to see attractions. US national parks, from Yosemite to the Shenandoahs, as well as Washington’s National Mall, Lincoln Memorial and Constitution Gardens, would also be closed.
And to top it all off we have this, which appears to be rather big news considering the situation, yet nobody seems to have really heard about it or is bypassing it due to the shutdown..
Venezuela expels three US diplomats over ‘sabotage’
Venezuela has announced it is expelling three US diplomats, whom it accuses of plotting to sabotage the economy.
President Nicolas Maduro said the diplomats have 48 hours to leave the country, saying “Yankees, go home!”
Mr Maduro says he has evidence that the trio took part in a power-grid sabotage in September and had bribed Venezuelan companies to cut down production.
The United States and Venezuela have been without ambassadors in each other’s capitals since 2010.
The diplomats expelled have been named as Kelly Keiderling – the charge d’affaires and the most senior US diplomat in Caracas – David Moo and Elizabeth Hoffman.
“We completely reject the Venezuelan government’s allegations of US government involvement in any type of conspiracy to destabilize the Venezuela government,” the embassy said in a statement.
It said it had not yet been officially notified of the Venezuelan government decision to expel the three diplomats.
Mr Maduro made the announcement during an official ceremony at the city of Santa Ana.
“Out of Venezuela! Yankees go home! Enough of abuse against the dignity of a peace-loving nation,” he said.
Venezuela is facing a shortage of several goods, including toilet paper, sugar and flour.
The opposition blames Mr Maduro’s left-wing policies and rhetoric for the crisis.
‘New York plot’
Relations between the two countries have been bad for over a decade.
For years, the late President Hugo Chavez denounced “American imperialism” in Latin America.
In December 2010, Mr Chavez denied a visa to the man appointed to be US ambassador to Caracas, Larry Palmer, over remarks he had made about involvement between the Venezuelan government and Colombian Farc rebels.
The Venezuelan government seized a toilet paper factory last month to avoid any shortage“Anyone who comes here as an ambassador has to show respect. This is a country that must be respected,” Mr Chavez said at the time.
The US retaliated and expelled the Venezuelan ambassador to Washington.
Mr Maduro took office as interim president when Mr Chavez was terminally ill with cancer. He was elected president in April, by a narrow margin, defeating opposition leader Henrique Capriles.
Mr Maduro’s new Foreign Minister, Elias Jaua, met the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, during a regional summit in Guatemala in June.
They both said they were determined to improve relations, but the good will did not last long.
Last week, Mr Maduro cancelled his scheduled speech at the United Nations Assembly General, saying that his life would be in danger in New York.
Mr Maduro accused two former US officials of being behind the “provocations”.
“The US government knows exactly that these people were behind a dangerous activity being plotted in New York,” he said.
I can only wonder at what the true motive behind all this is? How long will it go on for and what will happen to the rest of the world should this go beyond ‘a few days’.. Seems more like an organized plan to stir up trouble..
US begins shutdown amid budget row
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