The federal government officially entered a shutdown at midnight on Wednesday after congressional leaders were unable to reach a deal on a stopgap spending bill, leaving lawmakers grasping at straws over how to break the impasse.

The shutdown became a certainty after lawmakers voted down a pair of stopgap funding packages — one a “clean” bill offered by Republicans, the other filled with Democratic priorities — on Tuesday evening, with few discussions taking place between the party leaders to find a pathway to a deal.

In the interim, both sides are engaging in a blame game that has been red-hot for days.

“The Democrat caucus here in town in the Senate has chosen to shut down the government over a clean, nonpartisan funding bill. That’s right — a clean, nonpartisan funding bill,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters after the votes. “Senate Democrats said ‘no.’ Because far left interest groups and far left Democrat members wanted a showdown with the president.”

"Republicans are plunging America into a shutdown—rejecting bipartisan talks, pushing a partisan bill, and risking America's healthcare, worst of all," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters. "They've got to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to come to a bill that both parties can support."

The lapse in funding marks the fourth government shutdown in the 21st century and the first since 2019 when a fight over border wall funding resulted in a........

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