U.S. officially enters federal government shutdown

The United States entered a state of federal paralysis at dawn on Tuesday after Congress failed to approve a partial budget extension, a move that will halt operations at numerous federal departments and agencies and put their employees on forced leave.

The government shutdown — the first in roughly seven years, when the country endured the longest shutdown in its history of 35 days — began after Republicans failed to extend government funding beyond Tuesday, which marks the end of the U.S. fiscal year.

Trump blamed Democrats for the breakdown in negotiations and threatened to punish the party and its voters during the stoppage by targeting progressive priorities and forcing mass cuts to public-sector jobs.

“We’re going to lay off a large number of people… they’re Democrats, and they’ll be Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

He added that “a lot of good things can come from shutdowns,” suggesting using the stoppage “to get rid of a lot of things we didn’t want, and they will be Democratic things.”