The U.S. government shutdown has become a foregone conclusion, as both parties' proposals in the Senate have failed to pass

according to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. federal government will shut down at midnight local time on Wednesday (12 PM Beijing time) after Senate Republicans and Democrats rejected each other's funding proposals. Trump issued a new threat to Democrats on Tuesday while signaling a willingness to discuss Medicaid funding issues further.

The day before, congressional leaders from both parties had just met at the White House. Due to divisions within the Republican Party and pressure from the Democratic left, any agreement may need to wait until one minute past midnight when the shutdown begins. This shutdown will take the U.S. into uncharted territory. White House officials have previously expressed hopes to downsize the government, claiming they will take this opportunity of funding cessation to lay off federal employees on a large scale, rather than just putting hundreds of thousands of civil servants on temporary leave.