First Thing: US government shuts down after Democrats refuse to back Republican funding plan

Democrats accuse Republicans of risking America's healthcare' in spending bill. Plus, Trump says military should use US cities as training grounds

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Good morning.

The US government shut down on Wednesday, after congressional Democrats refused to support a Republican plan to extend funding unless they were granted certain concessions on healthcare.

What does a shutdown mean in practice? Federal employees classified as non-excepted" are placed on unpaid furlough, while excepted staff, whose jobs involve protecting life and property, must work without pay until the shutdown ends.

Will there be another vote? Yes: Senate Republicans have scheduled another round of votes on the two funding bills on Wednesday morning, stating they did so to allow Democrats to change their minds. Follow our liveblog here.

What else did Trump say? The president's comments included encouragement of retaliation by immigration enforcement agents: he said that when faced with people throwing bricks at their vehicles, you can get out of that car and you do whatever the hell you want to do".