Hopes that the Government of the United States may yet function this weekend onwards after Thursday night’s approval by the House of Representatives of a spending Bill were thwarted when the Senate failed to clear a 60-vote hurdle on Friday. At least a dozen Democratic votes were required to approve the emergency measure on spending, and those did not come through.

The Democrats were determined to secure concessions that would protect – from deportation – those immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, boost domestic spending and bolster governance generally. While leaders on either side of the political divide expressed optimism that the crisis would be staved off by the time offices re-opened on Monday, thanks to promises by leaders they would continue to talk over the weekend, it is by all accounts a forbidding cocktail that confronts the White House ~ constitutional, fiscal, political as well as legislative.

Clearly, the crisis that had been building up over Donald Trump’s impetuous actions and intemperate, even insulting, remarks as over Africa, has palpably been compounded. After the House vote, the Democrats were determined to exploit the overwhelming uncertainty. Despite the bout of trouble-shooting by the House, and last minute confabulations between the President and Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, the inherent legislative disconnect derailed the process in the Senate.

Mr Schumer said no to a proposal that would have extended funding by three weeks to 8 February and suggested a 10-day extension, which would have set another deadline just before President Trump delivered his State of the Union address on 30 January. It is clear that the Democrats ~ angered by Trump’s vulgar aspersions and the lack of progress on a broader budget and immigration deal ~ were geared up to block the House approval from attaining fruition… even to the detriment of governance.

Shortly after midnight, the vote was closed and an impasse declared, quite in contrast with the House, where the Representatives had approved the measure by 230 to 197 votes; not a particularly convincing margin but a favourable vote nonetheless. Funding expired on Friday night, and led immediately to an announcement by the US embassy in New Delhi that the American Center and its library would be shut until further notice.

The blame, Americans seem to feel, lies with President Trump and the Republicans. By a 20-point margin, Americans told a Washington Post-Gallup poll they thought Mr Trump was responsible for the shutdown. Hundreds and thousands of US government employees have been forced to stop working and only essential and military services remain functional. The last time America faced such a shutdown was in 2013, and that lasted a fortnight. Americans, on either side of the political divide, must hope this standoff gets resolved faster.