The US government has entered a partial shutdown as a funding deadline passed without Congress approving a 2026 budget, but disruption is expected to be limited with the House of Representatives set to move early next week to ratify a Senate-backed deal.
The funding lapse followed a breakdown in negotiations driven by Democratic anger over the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents, which derailed talks over new money for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The US Senate previously passed the spending package by a bipartisan vote of 71 to 29.
But the House of Representatives is out of town and was not expected to take up the measure until Monday, according to a Republican leadership aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
That meant a shutdown was all but certain to begin at 12:01am Eastern time (5:01am Irish time).
But it could be brief.
Politicians from both parties have been working to ensure a debate over immigration enforcement does not disrupt other government operations.
This is a marked contrast from last autumn when Republicans and Democrats dug into their positions in a dispute over healthcare, prompting a shutdown that lasted a record 43 days and cost the US economy an estimated $11 billion.
The government has endured 10 funding gaps of three days or fewer since 1977, most of which had little real-world effect, according to the Congressional Research Service.
It would allow politicians to approve spending for agencies like the Pentagon and the Department of Labor while they consider new restrictions on federal immigration agents.
Senate Democrats, angered by the shooting of a second US citizen by immigration agents in Minneapolis last weekend, had threatened to hold up the funding package in an effort to force US President Donald Trump to rein in the DHS, which oversees federal immigrationen forcement.
Democrats want to end roving patrols, require agents to wear body cameras and prohibit them from wearing face masks.
They also want to require immigration agents to get a search warrant from a judge, rather than from their own officials.
Republicans say they are open to some of those ideas.
DHS funding would be extended for two weeks, giving negotiators time to reach an agreement on immigration tactics.
The shooting dead of nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents on Saturday spurred widespread public outrage, prompting the Trump administration to de-escalate operations in the region.
Thousands of protesters also took to the streets in Minneapolis and students across the United States staged walkouts to demand the withdrawal of federal immigration agents from Minnesota.
Mr Pretti's death was the second this month of a US citizen with no criminal record involving immigration law enforcement agents.
