Payam Javan: The U.S. federal government entered a shutdown Wednesday morning after Congress failed to reach agreement on temporary funding measures, underscoring deep partisan divisions with no immediate resolution in sight. Both Republican and Democratic stopgap spending bills were rejected in the Senate, leaving agencies shuttered and employees facing uncertainty. The standoff centers largely on disagreements over healthcare spending and the future of subsidies tied to the Affordable Care Act.

Democrats pushed for a short-term measure that would extend subsidies and reverse GOP-backed Medicaid cuts, but their proposal fell 47–53. Republicans, in turn, advanced their own seven-week funding plan that included increased security spending for government officials, yet it too failed to clear the Senate, despite support from a few Democrats. This marks the third time a GOP-backed measure has stalled amid a filibuster.

Republican leaders blamed Democrats for refusing to pass what they described as a “clean” stopgap bill, while Democrats placed responsibility on Republicans and former President Donald Trump, accusing them of putting healthcare protections at risk. With both chambers still far from compromise and only partial progress on broader appropriations bills, congressional leaders are warning that prolonged gridlock could deepen the economic and political fallout of the shutdown.