Federal agencies have been ordered to start the shutdown process after funding measures in the U.S. Senate failed.
“White House budget director Russell Vought on Tuesday evening directed federal agencies to begin implementing their shutdown plans after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican plan to keep the government open beyond midnight.
The leaders of executive branch departments and agencies ‘should now execute their plans for an orderly shutdown,’ Vought wrote in a memo, formally initiating the first closure of the federal government since President Donald Trump’s first term.
The directive sets in motion furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of a wide range of government services. Federal agencies have published plans over the past several days detailing which roles and services are deemed essential enough to continue during the shutdown despite the lapse in funding. Vought has separately asked agencies to prepare plans to permanently reduce the federal workforce through mass firings during a shutdown.”
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