WASHINGTON —

A government shutdown is officially underway for the first time in almost seven years.

The White House directed federal agencies to begin executing shutdown plans on Tuesday evening after the Senate failed to pass a bill to keep the federal agencies funded beyond the midnight deadline.

The Republican-led plan to extend current funding levels for seven weeks fell short of the 60 votes needed for passage. The vote was 55 to 45, with most Democrats opposed.

"Democrats may have chosen to shut down the government tonight, but we can reopen it tomorrow," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune. "All it takes is a handful of Democrats to join Republicans to pass the clean, non-partisan funding bill that's in front of us."

"They call it clean, we call it totally partisan. There

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