The government of the United States began shutting down after midnight on Wednesday as lawmakers and President Donald Trump failed to break a budget impasse during acrimonious talks that hinged on Democratic demands for health care funding.

Wednesday marks the first shutdown since the longest in history that lasted 35 days and will stop work at multiple federal departments and agencies, affecting hundreds of thousands of government workers.

Warning of impending job cuts, Trump blamed Democrats over the stalled talks and said: “So we’d be laying off a lot of people that are going to be very affected. And they’re Democrats, they’re going to be Democrats."

News18 takes a look at what a government shutdown means, how it affects you and what is the way forward.

What’s A Government Shutdown?

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