New Delhi: The US federal government has officially entered a shutdown as Democratic and Republican lawmakers have failed to vote to extend funding past midnight of September 30.US president Donald Trump’s administration has threatened mass federal layoffs.Reuters reports that the 55-to-45 vote in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation, led to the impasse.Under a shutdown, nonessential government operations are understood to come to a halt, potentially disrupting everything from air travel to the monthly jobs report. Several thousand federal government workers could temporarily be without pay. Thus the shutdown puts a question mark on the US economy as a whole.During the 2018-2019 partial shutdown, the Food and Drug Administration suspended routine inspections, increasing public health risks. The National Park Service stopped trash collection and road repairs and over 86,000 immigration court hearings were canceled, exacerbating existing backlogs. The shutdown also threatened the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programme in some states, putting low-income families and children at risk.