The United States government has entered a partial shutdown after lawmakers in Washington failed to pass a spending bill before the deadline early Wednesday (01), leading to the suspension of many federal operations.

In response, the US Embassy in Sri Lanka announced via X (formerly Twitter) that its account would not be updated regularly during the shutdown, except to share urgent safety and security information.

The Embassy further noted that scheduled passport and visa services, both in the United States and at US Embassies and Consulates worldwide, would continue “as the situation permits” despite the funding lapse. Sri Lankans seeking updates on consular services were directed to the official US State Department website, travel.state.gov.

The shutdown occurred after both Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate rejected rival stopgap proposals, causing federal funding to expire at 00:01 EDT (04:01 GMT) on Wednesday.

Since 1980, the US government has faced more than a dozen shutdowns. However, this one is expected to create heightened uncertainty, with President Donald Trump warning that he could use the situation to make deep cuts to government programmes unpopular with Democrats.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said shutdowns can bring “a lot of good,” though he also admitted they can result in actions “bad for Democrats” and “irreversible.”