US government shuts down as senators failed to pass a last-minute funding bill [SOUND]

# The US government has shut down for the first time in nearly seven years after senators failed to pass a last-minute funding bill. Congressional Democrats refused to support a Republican funding package unless they won a series of concessions centred on healthcare. The shutdown is the first since a 35-day closure that began in December 2018 and extended into the new year, during president Donald Trump’s first term. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Democrats are fully to blame for this shutdown: