WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate scheduled a vote for Monday at noon (1700 GMT) on a stopgap spending measure, canceling a planned vote for Monday at 1 a.m. (0600 GMT), ensuring that the federal government will remain closed when the work week begins.

“It would be my intention to proceed to legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues. It is also my intention to take up legislation on increased defense spending, disaster relief and other important matters,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Peter Cooney) </s> The leader of the Republican majority in the United States Senate announced Sunday that the chamber would vote at noon Monday on a bill to fund the government, which remained partially closed during the weekend, after the federal budget was not approved on Jan. 19.

The senators will vote on a bill to keep the Administration open until Feb. 8, Senator Mitch McConnell said. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Nearly 700,000 employees could be sent home without pay

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are waking up in the US, unable to work because of a government shutdown.

The US Senate has failed to reach a temporary budget deal to keep it open.

Some employees will not be paid until the stalemate is resolved.

A vote will take place at noon in Washington (17:00 GMT) on whether to re-open government. Immigration remains one of the main sticking points between Republicans and Democrats.

Democrats have refused to back a temporary budget deal until their concerns on immigration reform are dealt with.

Essential federal services are still running across the country, but non-essential workers are not required to report to work.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Government workers on what happens during a shutdown

Why has the government shut down?

At midnight on Friday, lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill. The bill was not a plan for funding for the whole of 2018, but would have kept things running until the middle of next month.

Efforts to reach a compromise ahead of the working week failed in a rare Senate session late on Sunday.

A vote to end the shutdown was postponed until midday on Monday, meaning many federal government offices will not open as the shutdown enters its third day.

Under Senate rules, the bill needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Trump's shutdown voicemail

There are 50 Republican senators who are present and able to vote in the upper chamber on Monday, but at least 10 Democrats are needed to pass a budget.

Republican Senator John McCain is away from Washington to receive cancer treatment.

Democrats want President Trump to negotiate over immigration as part of a budget deal, but Republicans say no agreement is possible while federal government services are closed.

Republicans want funding for border security - including a proposed border wall with Mexico - and immigration reforms, as well as increased military spending.

On Saturday, Mr Trump said the "nuclear option" of a simple majority vote was necessary to end the impasse.

More on Trump's first year

What does a shutdown mean?

It means no pay for those federal employees who are "furloughed" - on unpaid leave - even though their workplaces are not open.

The last government shutdown was in 2013, and lasted for 16 days.

It cost the government $2bn in lost productivity and led to "significant negative effects on the economy", the OMB said at the time.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Free coffee for federal workers near the White House during the shutdown

After the 2013 shutdown, Congress passed a bill ensuring employees who were on unpaid leave received pay cheques for the time they missed. However, receiving pay is not guaranteed this time as Congress would have to approve it again.

The shutdown began on the first anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. His trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, has also been called into question.

What's closed and what's open?

Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on Monday. Half of workers in the treasury, health, defence and transportation departments will also not be going to work.

But essential services that protect "life or human property" will continue, including national security, postal services, air traffic control, some medical services, disaster assistance, prisons, taxation and electricity generation.

And the Trump administration said it planned to keep national parks open - their closure in the 2013 shutdown provoked an angry public reaction.

However, many rangers and staffers will not go into work.

The Statue of Liberty was closed on Sunday but the governor of New York said he will use state funds to keep the historic landmark open from Monday.

However, Independence Hall which is home to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, will be closed along with other national landmarks.

The defence department issued guidance saying that all military active duty personnel will continue to work without pay.

Other closures include:

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will discontinue routine establishment inspections and other food safety activities during the shutdown

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will cease operations of disease prevention programs but will continue to respond to seasonal influenza outbreaks

Why can the two sides not agree?

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Americans are singularly unimpressed"

This is the first time a government shutdown has happened while one party, the Republicans, controls both Congress and the White House.

Friday's vote fell 50-49, far short of the 60 needed to advance the bill. This is due to a number of key disagreements.

Democrats have demanded protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children.

"I hope it is just a matter of hours or days. But we need to have a substantive answer, and the only person who can lead us to that is President Trump. This is his shutdown," Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told the CBS network on Saturday.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The missing - consequences of Trump's immigration crackdown

But Vice-President Mike Pence reiterated his party's stance in a speech to US troops in the Middle East on Sunday.

"We're not going to reopen negotiations on illegal immigration until they reopen the government and give you, our soldiers and your families, the benefits and wages you've earned," he said. </s> US Senate set to vote on plan to reopen federal government

Washington DC, Jan 21 (EFE).- The leader of the Republican majority in the United States Senate announced Sunday that the chamber would vote at noon Monday on a bill to fund the government, which remained partially closed during the weekend, after the federal budget was not approved on Jan. 19.



The senators will vote on a bill to keep the Administration open until Feb. 8, Senator Mitch McConnell said.



The proposal would give Republicans and Democrats more time to negotiate the final budget for the 2018 fiscal year, although it is not clear that the 60 votes needed to approve that bill are guaranteed.



After McConnell’s announcement, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned they still have to reach an agreement on the way forward that is acceptable to both parties.



Before the plenary session of the Senate, McConnell tried to convince the Democratic opposition to support the bill by promising to push the debate on legislation to provide a solution to undocumented young immigrants who came to the US as children known as “dreamers”, if no agreement is reached before Feb. 8.



The Obama-era protection plan, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), protecting these young people from deportation will be phased out by Mar. 5, 2018.



Some 800,000, deemed “non-essential”, out of a total of 3.5 million public employees are affected by the partial government shutdown and will be furloughed until Congress reaches a budget agreement. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will wake up on Monday with the U.S. government still shut down and the Senate expected to try again to restore federal funding, if only temporarily, and work on resolving a dispute over immigration.

Amid uncertainty about whether federal employees should report to work in the morning, senators were set to vote at midday on a funding bill to get the lights back on in Washington and across the government until early February.

Support for the bill was uncertain, after Republicans and Democrats spent all day on Sunday trying to strike a deal, only to go home for the night short of an agreement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said late on Sunday that an overnight vote on a measure to fund government operations through Feb. 8 was canceled and would instead be held at 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday.

Up until Monday, most federal workers were not directly affected by the shutdown that began at midnight on Friday.

Many were still awaiting notification on whether they are “essential” employees or not, which would determine whether they must report to their offices.

Even late on Sunday, the federal Office of Personnel Management was providing little guidance. It said on its website that “federal government operations vary by agency.”

The Department of Defense published a memo on its site detailing who does and does not get paid in a shutdown and saying that civilian employees were on temporary leave, except for those needed to support active-duty troops.

The Department of Interior, led by Secretary Ryan Zinke, offered no guidance on its website, which still had a “Happy Holidays from the Zinke Family” video near the top of the site. The department oversees national parks and federal lands.

The State Department website said: “At this time, scheduled passport and visa services in the United States and at our posts overseas will continue during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits.”

The U.S. government had not previously been shut down since 2013, when about 800,000 federal workers were put on furlough. The impasse preventing passage of a needed funding bill centered on former Democratic President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

The problem this time focused on immigration policy, principally President Donald Trump’s order last year ending an Obama program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which gave legal protections to “Dreamer” immigrants.

The “Dreamers” are young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children by their parents or other adults, mainly from Mexico and Central America, and who mostly grew up in the United States.

Trump said last year he would end DACA on March 5 and asked Congress to come up with a legislative fix before then that would prevent the Dreamers from being deported.

Democrats have withheld support for a temporary funding bill to keep the government open over the DACA issue. McConnell extended them an olive branch on Sunday, pledging to bring immigration legislation up for debate after Feb. 8 so long as the government remained open.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer objected to that plan and it was unclear whether McConnell’s pledge would be enough for Democrats to support a stopgap funding bill.

Congress failed last year to pass a complete budget by Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, and the government had since been operating on a series of three stopgap spending bills.

Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, where they have a slim 51-49 majority. But most legislation requires 60 Senate votes to pass, giving Democrats leverage in that chamber.

Trump earlier this month told a bipartisan Senate working group that he would sign whatever DACA legislation was brought to him. The Republican president then rejected a bipartisan measure and negotiations stalled.

McConnell had previously insisted that the Senate would not move to immigration legislation until it was clear what could earn Trump’s support.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who is involved in bipartisan immigration negotiations, said McConnell’s statements on Sunday indicated progress in negotiations and he urged his Democratic colleagues to approve another stopgap bill. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of federal workers will wake up on Monday with the U.S. government still shut down and the Senate expected to try again to restore federal funding, if only temporarily, and work on resolving a dispute over immigration.

Amid uncertainty about whether federal employees should report to work in the morning, senators were set to vote at midday on a funding bill to get the lights back on in Washington and across the government until early February.

Support for the bill was uncertain, after Republicans and Democrats spent all day on Sunday trying to strike a deal, only to go home for the night short of an agreement.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said late on Sunday that an overnight vote on a measure to fund government operations through Feb. 8 was canceled and would instead be held at 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday.

Up until Monday, most federal workers were not directly affected by the shutdown that began at midnight on Friday.

Many were still awaiting notification on whether they are "essential" employees or not, which would determine whether they must report to their offices.

Even late on Sunday, the federal Office of Personnel Management was providing little guidance. It said on its website that “federal government operations vary by agency.”

The Department of Defense published a memo on its site detailing who does and does not get paid in a shutdown and saying that civilian employees were on temporary leave, except for those needed to support active-duty troops.

The Department of Interior, led by Secretary Ryan Zinke, offered no guidance on its website, which still had a “Happy Holidays from the Zinke Family” video near the top of the site. The department oversees national parks and federal lands.

The State Department website said: "At this time, scheduled passport and visa services in the United States and at our posts overseas will continue during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits."

The U.S. government had not previously been shut down since 2013, when about 800,000 federal workers were put on furlough. The impasse preventing passage of a needed funding bill centered on former Democratic President Barack Obama's healthcare law.

The problem this time focused on immigration policy, principally President Donald Trump's order last year ending an Obama program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which gave legal protections to "Dreamer" immigrants.

The "Dreamers" are young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children by their parents or other adults, mainly from Mexico and Central America, and who mostly grew up in the United States.

Trump said last year he would end DACA on March 5 and asked Congress to come up with a legislative fix before then that would prevent the Dreamers from being deported.

Democrats have withheld support for a temporary funding bill to keep the government open over the DACA issue. McConnell extended them an olive branch on Sunday, pledging to bring immigration legislation up for debate after Feb. 8 so long as the government remained open.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer objected to that plan and it was unclear whether McConnell's pledge would be enough for Democrats to support a stopgap funding bill.

Congress failed last year to pass a complete budget by Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, and the government had since been operating on a series of three stopgap spending bills.

Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate, where they have a slim 51-49 majority. But most legislation requires 60 Senate votes to pass, giving Democrats leverage in that chamber.

Trump earlier this month told a bipartisan Senate working group that he would sign whatever DACA legislation was brought to him. The Republican president then rejected a bipartisan measure and negotiations stalled.

McConnell had previously insisted that the Senate would not move to immigration legislation until it was clear what could earn Trump's support.

Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who is involved in bipartisan immigration negotiations, said McConnell's statements on Sunday indicated progress in negotiations and he urged his Democratic colleagues to approve another stopgap bill. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. government shutdown will enter its third day on Monday as Senate negotiators failed to reach a deal late on Sunday on Democrats’ demand for legislation protecting “Dreamers,” young people brought to the country illegally as children.

The Senate set a vote for 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday on advancing a measure that would provide temporary government funding through Feb. 8 and allow thousands of federal employees to return to work.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also offered an olive branch to Democrats when he pledged in remarks on the Senate floor to bring immigration legislation to a floor debate in early February if the issue had not been dealt with by then.

“It would be my intention to proceed to legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues,” McConnell said, adding: “It is also my intention take up legislation on increased defense spending, disaster relief and other important matters” then.

It was not clear whether enough Democrats would vote on Monday to advance the temporary spending bill and end the government shutdown.

Funding for federal agencies ran out at midnight on Friday, and was not renewed amid a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats over the politically acrimonious issue of immigration.

Refusing to support another short-term government funding extension last week, Democrats demanded that the Republican president live up to an earlier agreement to protect Dreamers from deportation. </s> A bipartisan group of negotiators has reached across the aisle to finalise an agreement to reopen the US federal government almost 60 hours after it first shut down. On Monday afternoon, the Senate passed a short-term spending bill after voting to end debates by a vote of 81-18, with the measure sent to the President for his signature shortly thereafter, laying the groundwork for the government's reopening by Monday evening. The bill was set to fund the government until 8 February and ... </s> US shutdown begins as Senate fails to pass budget

The US government has begun a federal shutdown after the Senate failed to agree on a new budget, the BBC reported today.

Despite last minute bipartisan meetings, the Bill to fund the government until 16 February did not receive the required 60 votes.

It is the first shutdown ever to happen while the same party, the Republicans, controls Congress and the White House.

In response, the White House accused Democrats of holding “lawful citizens hostage over their reckless demands”.

“They put politics above our national security, military families, vulnerable children, and our country’s ability to serve all Americans”, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

But Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said President Donald Trump had turned down two bipartisan compromise deals and “did not press his party in Congress”.

It was unclear which way the vote would go as the midnight deadline approached, with Republicans and Democrats split on key issues.

The House of Representatives voted 230-197 on Thursday night to extend funding until next month, but the measure failed to pass the Senate by a margin of 50-49.

Five Republicans voted against the Bill while five Democrats broke ranks to support it.

The last US shutdown happened in 2013 and lasted for 16 days, during which many federal employees took a forced leave of absence.

Many government offices will close as federal law requires agencies to shut down if Congress has not allocated money to fund them.
The United States Senate schedules a vote for noon Monday to fund the government through February 8. Since the Senate did not reach a budget compromise late Sunday evening, hundreds of thousands of federal workers will face furloughs on Monday and many federal government offices will remain closed though some facilities, such as the Smithsonian Museums and the National Zoo, are scheduled to be open.