As services that many Americans rely on were upended Wednesday by a government shutdown, dueling proposals to end it failed in the Senate for the third time in two weeks, as neither Republicans nor Democrats could muster sufficient bipartisan support. While critical services continue to operate — including Social Security and Medicare benefits — a sprawling mass of other federal functions has ground to a halt because of the first government shutdown in nearly seven years.

The affected services range across the government, such as assistance for veterans transitioning to civilian life, health-related communications from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and some data collection and economic analysis, like the jobs report set for release Friday. Most civil litigation out of the Justice Department has stopped, no new education grants are going out, and cleanup at some Superfund sites has stalled. Some federal employees are working without pay, while the rest have been furloughed.

Democrats, who previously agreed to temporarily fund the government in March, are demanding Republicans make concessions on health care, including the extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and the reversal of Trump-directed cuts to Medicaid and other health programs. But unlike in previous shutdowns, President Donald Trump is threatening to make long-lasting changes to the government if Democrats do not concede, including firing more workers and permanently cutting programs that Democrats support.

It is unclear how long the shutdown might last, and there were no signs of compromise on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. The Democrats’ leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, said his caucus was “reflecting what the American people really want” by trying to reverse the health care cuts. The Republican majority leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said he was not interested in linking negotiations on health care policy to government funding.

Here’s What Else to Know:

— Rejected proposals: On Wednesday, the Senate voted 47-53, with all Republicans opposed, to reject Democrats’ counterproposal to fund the government. And then most of the chamber’s Democrats voted again to block the House-passed GOP stopgap spending bill, 55-45, which would extend funding at current levels. Senate Republicans have indicated that they intend to keep forcing these votes to put Democrats on the record as opposing their stopgap bill.

— Wide-ranging effects: The longer the government is closed, the broader the effects. A longer shutdown may start to affect federally funded child care and grocery vouchers for low-income mothers and children. National parks, which largely planned to remain open, may see overflowing toilets, piles of trash and damage to fragile ecosystems. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York suggested that the state would not pay to keep the Statue of Liberty open to the public. The site, which is operated by the National Park Service, is expected to close next week.

— Federal workers: This year’s shutdown differs from previous years’ because around 300,000 workers have left federal service since the beginning of the year, most either fired or pressured to resign by the Trump administration. This has meant that in some cases, employees have already been working the jobs of two or three people to cover the vacancies.

— Last shutdown: The last government shutdown began in late 2018 during the first Trump administration. It lasted 35 days, the longest ever, forcing some government workers to get payday loans to cover routine expenses.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By The New York Times/Haiyun Jiang
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