WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. federal government entered a shutdown at the start of Wednesday, a few hours after the U.S. Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill on Tuesday night, which marks the first government shutdown in nearly seven years.
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be forced to take unpaid leave, with some public services potentially suspended or delayed, and the release of economic data possibly impacted as well. ■
