Barack Obama has blamed the shutdown on extremist Republicans.
It's official: the US federal government was shut down for the first time in 17 years at midnight eastern standard time.
The White House budget director ordered US federal agencies to begin closing down after Congress failed to pass a budget to avert a government shutdown.
"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations," said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director Of the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a memo on Monday night.
The order was issued 10 minutes before the US government officially ran out of money after a day of angry brinkmanship between the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and the Senate, where Democrats have the majority.
Scroll down to read the order in full
Burwell said the Obama administration urged Congress to move quickly so critical government services could be restored. She said the shutdown will affect hundreds of thousands of workers who will be sent home and it will inconvenience millions who rely on federal services.
She said some critical functions, like the military and air traffic control, will remain open.
"We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and to restore the operation of critical public services and programs that will be impacted by a lapse in appropriations."
Obama's message to troops
President Barack Obama has told members of the military he is working to get Congress to re-open the government as soon as possible.
In a video message to troops. Obama said those in uniform would remain on duty as usual.
He said he had signed a law ensuring troops get paid on time.
Operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere would continue and the US would ensure those in harm's way had what they needed, he said, but Defence Department civilians may be furloughed.
Obama told the troops that compounds the damage from spending cuts that have already affected the military.
Hundreds of thousands of government workers will be off the job, but some essential services will continue.
The Democrat-led Senate voted to kill two House-passed amendments that chipped away at Obamacare, which the House had passed less than an hour before.
Democrat House Majority Leader Harry Reid said Republicans were insane for repeatedly targeting Obamacare in a government funding bill.
"Albert Einstein said when defining insanity as follows, quote, 'Doing the same thing over and over again and thinking you're going to get a different result,'" Reid said.
'Republicans insane'
"Einstein was a genius, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that the proof is watching the House Republicans, because they've lost their minds."
Obama appeared resigned to a shutdown earlier in the day, stepping into the White House press room to reiterate that the shutdown would be the fault of the "extreme right wing" of the Republican Party, referring to the conservative Tea Party.
He also reassured the public that while poor people and seniors, among others, would continue to receive benefit checks in the event of a shutdown, many other functions of government would grind to a halt, throwing "a wrench into the gears of our economy."
And he taunted Republicans about Obamacare, a program aimed at providing healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. It "takes effect tomorrow no matter no matter what Congress decides to do today ... you can't shut it down."
Republicans say the launch on Tuesday of new online government health insurance exchanges will cause premiums to rise and deter companies from hiring new workers.
The White House later said Obama placed calls to top lawmakers, continuing to press the Republican leadership for six weeks of government funding, free of any "ideological riders."
Americans are split over whether funding for Obama's signature healthcare law should be linked to measures that pay for US government operations, but more will blame Republicans if the government has to shut down on Tuesday, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The standoff does not bode well for the next political battle, a far-more consequential bill to raise the federal government's borrowing authority. Failure to raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by mid-October would force the United States to default on some payment obligations - an event that could cripple its economy and send shockwaves around the globe.
via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFT9udjkL8kosVSPnBzvhTXA52YGA&url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/9231073/Goodnight-America-US-Shutdown-official
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