Government shutdown 101: We've been here before, here's what happens next

At 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the federal government entered its first shutdown since 2018, after two competing funding proposals, one from Democrats and another from Republicans, failed in the Senate. The setback deepened the stalemate, with neither side showing willingness to concede.Though once uncommon, government shutdowns have grown more frequent in recent decades as political brinkmanship has become a hallmark of budget negotiations.Since 1976, the U.S. government has experienced 20 shutdowns. The most recent one, the longest in U.S. history, occurred when a dispute over funding for Pr