As the clock has struck midnight in the US, the federal government officially shut down after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure to keep the lights on — and the Capitol is clueless as to what would follow. This is the first government shutdown since 2019.

The US is confronting a fresh cycle of uncertainty after President Donald Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programmes and services running by Wednesday’s deadline. Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed, some potentially fired by the Trump administration.