The Government Is Officially Closed for Business
Congress missed a midnight deadline to avert a shutdown, with the Senate failing to approve a House-passed bill that would have given lawmakers more time to come to a deal on immigration.
Updated on January 20 at 12:45 a.m. ET
Congress has shut down the federal government on the anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration.
Lawmakers missed a midnight deadline to keep the government open, as Senate Democrats and a group of Republicans blocked a House-passed bill that would have given the two parties more time to work out a long-term budget agreement and a deal to protect nearly 700,000 young immigrants at risk for deportation beginning in early March. The vote sent the government into a shutdown after negotiations between the president and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer had failed to yield a breakthrough in the impasse over immigration.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long
