US begins shutdown amid budget row

What does shutdown mean for two million federal employees, agencies and tourist destinations?

 

The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a budget.

 

The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying Mr Obama's healthcare reform - dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill.

More than 800,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.

It is the first partial shutdown in 17 years.
The economic impact will depend on how long the deadlock lasts, but Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdown could shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter.

 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. Sourced fom: www.bbc.co.uk