Federal government officials told agencies to begin executing plans for a partial government shutdown Monday as Congress failed to reach an agreement on a funding measure.
In a memo to executive branch officers sent less than half an hour before a midnight deadline, Office of Management and Budget director Sylvia Burwell said there was no "clear indication" that Congress would reach an agreement to keep the government's lights on by 12:01 a.m. ET
"Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations," she wrote. "We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, and to restore the operation of critical public services and programs that will be impacted by a lapse in appropriations."
The shutdown is expected to place tens of thousands of federal workers on furlough, close national parks and monuments, and disrupt services like food assistance and IRS audits. Services like benefit payments and national security operations would go on as usual, and – because of a bipartisan measure passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president late Monday – members of the military will continue to be paid.
As the clock ticked down to midnight, the House announced that it would try to shift decision-making to a bipartisan "conference" of lawmakers from both chambers, but Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid immediately rejected that plan.
“We will not go to conference with a gun to our head," he said.
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