The US government has begun a partial shutdown after the two houses of Congress failed to agree a new budget. The Republican-led House of Representatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform – dubbed Obamacare – as a condition for passing a bill.
More than 700,000 federal employees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over. It is the first shutdown in 17 years and the dollar fell early on Tuesday. Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdown could shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter. 
On Tuesday, Mr Obama blamed the House of Representatives for the stalemate and said he would “keep working to get Congress to reopen the government [and] restart vital services”.
“This shutdown was completely preventable. It should not have happened,” he wrote in a letter to federal government employees.
“And the House of Representatives can end it as soon as it follows the Senate’s lead, and funds your work in the United States Government without trying to attach highly controversial and partisan measures in the process.”
On Monday, House Speaker John Boehner told reporters he hoped the Senate would agree to a committee between the two chambers known as a conference “so we can resolve this for the American people”.
“The House has voted to keep the government open but we also want basic fairness for all Americans under Obamacare,” he said.
But on Tuesday morning, the Senate voted 54-46 to reject the request for formal negotiations to end the impasse.
The BBC’s Mark Mardell in Washington says the divide in US politics has grown so bitter that government itself cannot function.
Democrats were never likely to make concessions on healthcare reform – Mr Obama’s signature achievement and a central issue in last year’s presidential election, our correspondent says. 
But Republicans have made demands that they knew would not be met rather than be accused of weakness and betrayal by their own hardliners, he adds.
On Monday, the Democratic-led Senate twice rejected bills from House Republicans that would have funded the government only if funding for President Obama’s healthcare law was delayed for a year.
Major portions of the healthcare law, which passed in 2010 and has been validated by the US Supreme Court, took effect on Tuesday regardless of whether there is a shutdown.
President Obama went on national television to criticise Republicans for trying to refight the last election.
A shutdown would have “a very real economic impact on real people, right away,” he said, adding it would “throw a wrench” into the US recovery.
“The idea of putting the American people’s hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility, and it doesn’t have to happen.”
As the shutdown neared, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader blamed Republicans for the imminent halt to all n
on-essential government operations.
“It will be a Republican government shutdown, pure and simple,” said Harry Reid, referring to the Republicans as “bullies”.
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