Mike Johnson about to speak – watch live
Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from Capitol Hill
A large group of reporters are gathered here waiting for Speaker Mike Johnson to speak to us as the government shutdown gets into its second day.
He’s likely to be asked if any conversations or negotiations are underway to convince moderates to support the House-passed short term funding bill, or any signs that the shutdown could come to an end soon.
The House is out this week, despite Johnson’s presence on the Hill. And Congress will not have any votes today because it’s Yom Kippur.
You can click watch live at the top of this page to follow along.
Some government services continue to run
Are flights still taking off?
Air traffic control and Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers are considered “essential” – so will continue to work
But during the last shutdown, these workers increasingly began to call in sick, leading to delays in security checks at major airports
Flight systems might also “need to slow down, reducing efficiency” – according to airline representative Airlines for America
Will government employees be paid?
About 750,000 federal workers will be taking unpaid leave each day, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
The total daily cost of their compensation will be roughly $400m (£297m), the CBO says
Members of Congress will continue getting paid as its required by the US Constitution
Is mail being delivered?
The US Postal Service would be unaffected because it does not depend on Congress for funding
Post offices will stay open
What about law enforcement services?
Law enforcement officers will continue to work through the government shutdown – though more than 200,000 of them will do so unpaid
Also continuing their work as usual are those in border protection, in-hospital medical care, and air-traffic control
Here’s how we got here, and what else you need to know
Some government services across the US are grinding to a halt after a deadline for Democrats and Republicans to agree to a new federal funding package expired. Here’s what you need to know:
On Tuesday, Democrats in the Senate refused to back an eleventh-hour bill for a short extension, arguing it did not address their concerns about cuts to healthcare programmes
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has threatened to use the shut-down to carry out mass lay-offs
Both the Republicans and Democrats are laying the blame for the impasse at each other’s feet
The Senate is not convening today
And remind me, what’s the source of the shutdown?
The Republicans were pushing to pass a bill to extend government funding without other initiatives attached – known as a clean continuing resolution.
But they only have 53 seats in the Senate – and need 60 votes to pass such a bill, meaning they need support from the Democrats.
The Democrats sought to capitalise on that leverage to try and advance their policy goals in healthcare, which included:
Ensuring subsidies for health insurance for low-income individuals do not expire
Reversing the Trump administration’s cuts to Medicaid
But that was a no-go for Republicans and they came to a standoff. The shutdown won’t be resolved until Congress passes a funding bill.
Next Senate vote is not until Friday
The shutdown began on Wednesday, after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to agree a new spending plan.
The next Senate vote to try and end the shutdown will not be held until Friday.
So far, there appears little sign that either side will back down from their positions.
It’s possible the situation could drag on and threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs, as well as risk costing the US economy billions in lost output.
Trump says he could cut ‘Democrat agencies’
Sakshi Venkatraman
US reporter
It’s now day two of the US federal government shutdown.
Just a few minutes ago, President Donald Trump posted on social media, saying he’s focusing on which “Democrat agencies” can be slashed.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” he said on Truth Social.
This is the first government shutdown in almost seven years, and Trump says Republicans need to use it to their advantage.
“Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud,” he said overnight, again on Truth Social.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that mass layoffs of government workers are “imminent”, and federal employees have told the BBC they’re concerned for their futures.
Democrats and Republicans are trading blame over the shutdown, under which thousands of workers have been put on unpaid leave
Stick with us for the latest updates and analysis as this situation continues to unfold.
