India, Oct. 1 -- The US government officially shut down early Wednesday after Congress and President Donald Trump failed to break a bitter budget impasse, triggering the nation's 15th funding lapse since 1981 and the first since the record 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019.

Federal agencies began closing operations at 12:01 am, after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican stopgap measure that would have kept government funding flowing through November 21. Democrats demanded the bill include an extension of health-care subsidies and roll back Medicaid cuts, which Republicans refused to attach.

The standoff is set to furlough as many as 750,000 federal employees at a cost of roughly $400 million a day, while essential workers such as troops wil...