The US government will begin a Christmas time shutdown at midnight, as Congress adjourned Friday without passing a federal spending bill or addressing President Donald Trump’s demand for money to build a border wall.
Operations for several key agencies will cease at 12:01 am Saturday, despite last-ditch talks that continued on Capitol Hill between White House officials and congressional leaders in both parties.
Trump has dug in on his demand for $5 billion for construction of a wall on the US border with Mexico. Democrats are staunchly opposed and the absence of an elusive deal means federal funds for dozens of agencies will lapse when the clock strikes twelve.
It remained unclear how long the shutdown will last, but Trump expressed hope late Friday night that it “will not last long,” after earlier saying he was ready for just that.
The optics are bad, as 800 000 federal employees will be either furloughed or forced to work without pay in the run-up to the Christmas holiday.
But the prospect of a large portion of government workers going without paychecks was not enough to spur lawmakers or the president to action.
The House of Representatives adjourned just before 7:00 pm Friday, with no moves taken to avert a shutdown and the Senate closed up shop an hour later.
Both are due back in session at noon Saturday.
About three-quarters of the government, including the military and the Department of Health and Human Services, is fully funded until the end of September 2019, leaving 25% unfunded as of Saturday.
Most NASA employees will be sent home, as will Commerce Department workers and many at the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Agriculture and State.
National parks will remain open but most park staff will stay home.
While most critical security functions will be operational, the effects of the budget wrangling and uncertainty have cast an air of chaos over the capital, which is also reeling from the resignation announcement Thursday by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Wall Street ended its worst week in a decade with more bruising losses Friday.
And the inability of Washington to accomplish one of its most basic tasks keeping the government up and running has caused deep embarrassment and anxiety.
“It’s up to the Democrats whether or not we have a shutdown tonight,” Trump said earlier Friday, blaming political opponents for the crisis.
“I hope we don’t,” the president added, but “we’re totally prepared for a very long shutdown.”
