A vote to end the US government shutdown hours after it began failed on Wednesday, as Democrats in the Senate held firm to the party’s demands to fund health care subsidies that president Donald Trump and Republicans refuse to provide.
The tally showed cracks in the Democrats’ resolve but offered no breakthrough.
Blame was being cast on all sides on the first day of the shutdown.
The White House and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep programmes and services open, throwing the country into a new cycle of uncertainty.
Roughly 750,000 federal workers were expected to be furloughed, with some potentially fired by Mr Trump’s Republican administration.
Many offices will be shuttered, perhaps permanently, as the president vows to “do things that are irreversible” to punish Democrats.
Mr Trump’s deportation agenda is expected to run full speed ahead, while education, environmental and other services sputter.
The economic fallout is expected to ripple nationwide.
“I certainly pray they will come to their senses,” house speaker Mike Johnson said, flanked by Republican leaders at the Capitol.
This is the third time Mr Trump has presided over a federal funding lapse and the first since his return to the White House this year.
His record underscores the polarising divide over budget priorities in a political climate that rewards hard-line positions rather than more traditional compromises.
