The federal government officially entered a shutdown at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday after both Republican and Democratic spending proposals failed in the Senate, triggering constitutional questions and threatening the operations of the nation’s courts and law enforcement agencies.

The impasse centers on competing congressional spending bills, with Democrats demanding extensions to subsidies from the Affordable Care Act —the 2010 federal law that expanded health insurance coverage, also known as Obamacare—and reversals of Medicaid cuts, while Republicans proposed a seven-week funding extension at current levels.

The Republican measure , H.R. 5371, passed the House 217-212 on September 19 but fell short of the required 60 votes in the Senate on September 30, receiving only 55 votes. T

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