The US government enters a partial shutdown after the 2026 budget falters

The US government entered a partial shutdown on Saturday, after the funding deadline passed at midnight without Congress approving the 2026 budget.

It is expected that the amount of confusion will be limited, as the House of Representatives prepares to move early next week to ratify an agreement supported by the Senate.

The closure began at 12:01 a.m. EST today (5:01 a.m. GMT), but it may end early next week when the House of Representatives votes on an agreement.

The Senate approved a spending package by a majority of 71 votes to 29, with support from both parties, after it seemed unlikely that Congress would approve an agreement that would guarantee continued funding for many sectors after the midnight deadline.

However, an aide to the Republican Party leadership told Reuters, on condition that his name not be published, that the House of Representatives is not currently in session, and it is not expected to discuss the measure until Monday.

The agreement approved by the Senate was the result of an agreement between President Donald Trump and Democratic senators, who refused to approve the proposed budget for the Department of Homeland Security before implementing reforms in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Administration (ICE), after two American citizens were killed by gunfire from federal security agents in the city of Minneapolis in the north of the country.

It was eventually agreed to adopt 5 of the six sections of the budget text, while the section related to the Department of Homeland Security will be subject to further negotiations over the next two weeks.

But since the version approved in the Senate differs from the version previously approved by the House of Representatives, it will have to be presented to it again before its possible final adoption.

It is not certain that the House of Representatives will accept the new version drafted by the Senate.