The US government has officially shut down for the first time in six years after a deadlocked Congress failed to pass a funding measure. The full shutdown began at midnight Wednesday, September 30, after Democratic and Republican leaders failed to agree on even a short-term deal to keep the government fully funded past the current fiscal year. So far, it is unclear how long the shutdown will last, or how widespread its impact will be.A key sticking point behind the stalemate is said to be Democrats’ insistence on including the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits in any stopgap funding bill. Republicans have claimed that Democrats are pushing to provide government benefits to undocumented immigrants. Republicans claim that Democrats want to give health care to “illegal immigrants.” Democrats say that they are only trying to restore health care coverage options that were available to immigrants having “lawful presence” in the United States before those options were eliminated by President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful” tax bill this year.

Elon Musk on the US government shutdown

While so far Elon Musk has not directly commented on the US government shutdown, he has shared/reposted several tweets that support Republican’s claim that Democrats want to give health care benefits to “illegal immigrants”. He quoted VP JD Vance’s post on Chuck Schumer rewarding illegal immigrants, and wrote, “Once Chuck realized that importing voters was a surefire way for Dems to win elections and create a permanent one-party state in America (just like happened in California and New York), he became very much in favor of bribing illegals to come to America!”In his post, JD Vance wrote, “Chuck Schumer once recognized that it was disastrous to give illegal aliens rewards for breaking the law. Now he wants to shut down the government unless we…reward illegal aliens for breaking the law. x.com/westernlensman…”Elon Musk also shared a Twitter post of White House deputy chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller that says, “First shutdown in world history to demand free healthcare for illegal aliens.”“In 2019, every Democrat presidential candidate rose their hand in support for healthcare for illegal aliens. Today, Democrats are willing to shut down the government over free healthcare for illegals. Democrats have always put illegals before Americans,” reads another Tweet reposted by Elon Musk.

Previous US government shutdowns

The American federal government has either shut down or experienced funding gaps 14 times since 1980. The longest shutdown on record occurred in late 2018 and early 2019, lasting 35 days. That partial shutdown was a result of a stalemate over President Donald Trump’s demand for funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

What programs and payments will stop during US government shutdown

While every government shutdown is unique, they all operate under the same basic principles: non-essential services cease, and many federal employees are furloughed without pay. However, agencies deemed critical for the “protection of lives and property” remain operational. These “essential” employees, who include air traffic controllers, law enforcement agents, and active-duty military personnel, are required to work but do not receive their paychecks until funding is restored.However, OMB this time is said to be not posting agencies’ shutdown contingency plans on its website. Instead, the plans are hosted only on each agency’s site. This is reported to have made it harder to assess how the Trump administration will handle the shutdown and which activities it will deem essential.