Federal govt starts shutting down

Congress fails to strike budget deal

- 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. BLOOMBERG

The US government began shutting down yesterday after lawmakers and President Donald Trump failed to breaka budget impasse during acrimonious talks that hinged on Democratic demands for health care funding.

Republicans and Democrats immediately blamed each other for the deadlock that will impact hundreds of thousands of government workers and the millions of Americans who use the services they provide.

The shutdown, which will stop work at multiple federal departments and. agencies, comes as deep partisan divisions in Washington have raised fears over what will be the length and consequences of the halt.

Mr Trump threatened to punish Democrats and their voters by targeting progressive priorities and forcing mass public sector job cuts during the first stoppage since the one during his previous term.

“So we'd be laying off lot of people that are going to be very affected. And they're Democrats, they're going to be Democrats,’ Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He said a “lot of good can come down from shutdowns’ and suggested he would use the pause to “get rid ofa lot of things we didn’t want, and they'd be Democrat things”