Some will not be paid until the stalemate is resolved.

A rare Sunday session of the Senate yielded no agreement between Democrats and Republicans, with immigration one of the main sticking points.

Essential services will still run but famous sites such as the Statue of Liberty have already been affected.

The monument was closed on Sunday but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would dip into state funds to pay the daily employment bill and reopen the popular tourist site.

Why has the government shut down?

It missed a deadline. At midnight on Friday, lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill. The bill was not a plan for funding for the whole of 2018, but would have kept things running until the middle of next month.

Democrats refused to back a temporary deal until their concerns on immigration reform were dealt with.

Efforts to reach a compromise ahead of the working week failed late on Sunday.

A vote to end the shutdown was postponed until midday (17:00 GMT) on Monday, meaning many federal government offices will not open.

Under Senate rules, the bill needs 60 votes in the 100-member chamber.

The Republicans currently have 51 senators, so they need some Democratic support to pass a budget.

Democrats want President Trump to negotiate over immigration as part of a budget deal, but Republicans say no agreement is possible while federal government services are closed.

Republicans want funding for border security – including a proposed border wall with Mexico – and immigration reforms, as well as increased military spending.

On Saturday, Mr Trump said the “nuclear option” of a simple majority vote was necessary to end the impasse.

What does a shutdown mean?

It means no pay for those federal employees who are “furloughed” – on unpaid leave – even though their workplaces are not open.

Most staff in the departments of housing, environment, education and commerce will be staying at home on Monday. Half of workers in the treasury, health, defence and transportation departments will also not be going to work.

Visa and passport processing could be delayed.

But essential services that protect “life or human property” will continue, including national security, postal services, air traffic control, some medical services, disaster assistance, prisons, taxation and electricity generation.

And the Trump administration said it planned to keep national parks open – their closure in the 2013 shutdown provoked an angry public reaction.

The shutdown began on the first anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. His trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, next week has also been called into question.

The last government shutdown was in 2013, and lasted for 16 days.

It cost the government $2bn in lost productivity and led to “significant negative effects on the economy”, the OMB said at the time.

Why can the two sides not agree?

This is the first time a government shutdown has happened while one party, the Republicans, controls both Congress and the White House.

Friday’s vote fell 50-49, far short of the 60 needed to advance the bill. This is due to a number of key disagreements.

Democrats have demanded protection from deportation of more than 700,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the US as children.

“I hope it is just a matter of hours or days. But we need to have a substantive answer, and the only person who can lead us to that is President Trump. This is his shutdown,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin told the CBS network on Saturday.

But Vice-President Mike Pence reiterated his party’s stance in a speech to US troops in the Middle East on Sunday.

“We’re not going to reopen negotiations on illegal immigration until they reopen the government and give you, our soldiers and your families, the benefits and wages you’ve earned,” he said.

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Source: BBC

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The House of Representatives earlier approved the bill comfortably. Republicans have majorities in both houses of Congress.

For final approval the legislation must go back to the House on Wednesday for a procedural issue.

If it passes, as expected, it will be President Donald Trump’s first major legislative triumph.

Critics say the package is a deficit-bloating giveaway to the super-rich.

But Republicans argue the tax cuts for corporations, small businesses and individuals will boost economic growth.

Vice-President Mike Pence presided over the vote and announced the result.

“On this vote the ayes are 51, the nays are 48. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is passed,” he said.

Shortly before the final tally was announced, protesters in the Senate’s public gallery shouted “kill the bill”. They were escorted out.

By Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter

It wasn’t easy, but in one fell legislative swoop, Republicans have achieved some long-sought political goals.

Subject to a vote in the House early on Wednesday, they have reduced taxes by more than $1.4 trillion (£1tn) over 10 years, including significant changes to the corporate tax structure.

Congressional conservatives also opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling – a pitched partisan battle for years. And it set a bomb at the heart of Obamacare by ending the tax penalty for those who don’t have medical insurance starting in 2019.

What one Congress can do another can undo, of course, and the task ahead for Republicans is selling a sceptical public on the benefits of their plan.

While they may argue that Americans will come around once they see lower tax bills, many may have already made up their mind.

Like Obamacare eight years ago, this tax legislation was passed by partisan muscle alone. And like that law, many Americans view the legislation as largely benefitting others. They will be difficult to convince otherwise.

Repealing key provisions of this tax law will be as uniting for Democrats, as healthcare repeal was for conservatives.

Donald Trump and Republicans have their victories. They will have to fight to keep them.

Democrat leader Chuck Schumer warned Republicans that they would pay a price for the “awful legislation” in next year’s mid-term elections.

“The substance and polling are so rotten that a year from now Republicans will be running from this bill in shame for voting yes this evening,” he said.

Earlier, 12 Republicans and all Democratic members of the House of Representatives opposed the bill but it passed by 227 votes to 203, to loud cheers and applause from Republicans in the chamber.

Speaker Paul Ryan said: “Today we are giving the people of this country their money back. This is their money after all!”

Due to a procedural glitch, the House will have to vote again on Wednesday morning before the bill can be signed into law by President Trump.

The bill permanently cuts the tax rate for corporations from 35% to 21% and also lowers individual tax rates, albeit temporarily.

Other key elements include:

• Less inheritance tax
• An expanded child tax credit
• Lower taxes on overseas profits

However, the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation says the legislation will add as much as $1.4tn to the $20tn national debt over 10 years.

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Source: BBC

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Republican candidate Roy Moore, a former Alabama judge who is embroiled in allegations of child sex abuse, has been endorsed by the US president.

Mr Trump’s support is at odds with much of the Republican establishment, who have distanced themselves from the 70-year-old Christian conservative.

The race between Mr Moore and Democrat Doug Jones has been too close to call.

Mr Moore denies claims by several women that he made unwelcome sexual advances, mostly when they were teenagers.

However, the scandal has put a Senate seat in Alabama within reach of Democrats for the first time in more than two decades.

Why is this vote important?

A win for the Democrats could reduce the power of the Republican party, who currently hold just a two-seat Senate majority, to pass legislation ahead of next year’s mid-term Congressional elections.

While it is already difficult to pass legislation in the Senate, losing another seat would be a blow for Mr Trump, as approval must be reached by the majority of voting members.

A win for Mr Moore would be a victory for the president, who has been vocal in his support for the Republican candidate.

Mr Trump’s relationship with fellow Republicans has been at times tense, with some launching attacks on both his character and his presidency.

Mr Trump has previously blamed his own party for legislative failures.

Tuesday’s winner will take the seat held previously by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

How does Moore respond to the allegations?

At a rally on Monday night, Mr Moore reiterated his denials, again questioning why his accusers had kept quiet for 40 years while he held various political offices.

A number of women allege unwelcome sexual advances by him when they were teenagers. One alleges Mr Moore molested her when she was 14. Another says he tried to rape her.

Speaking alongside Mr Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, in front of a crowd that chanted the president’s slogan “Drain the Swamp”, Mr Moore drew heavily from the Bible.

“I want to make America great again with President Trump,” he said. “I want America great, but I want America good and she can’t be good until we go back to God.”

Mr Moore was joined at the rally by his wife Kayla who said separate allegations last week that her husband was anti-Semitic were “fake news”.

“One of our attorneys is a Jew, we have very close friends who are Jewish,” she said.

Mr Moore’s campaign rolled out an automated phone message on Monday with a recording of Mr Trump telling voters his agenda would be “stopped cold” if Mr Moore lost.

Fitting end to unpredictable year

Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News

Democrat Doug Jones is ahead by 10 points. No, Republican Roy Moore has a nine-point lead.

The latest batch of Alabama opinion polls are having a difficult time contending with the idiosyncrasies of a low-turnout, mid-December special election, a scandal-plagued Republican candidate in a deeply conservative state and a Democratic base that, while small, may be intensely motivated.

With so many variables at play, it will be tough to draw conclusions about the results of this election – but that won’t deter anyone.

A Jones win would not only be seen as a stern rebuke of President Trump, who has put his name on the line for Moore, it would make Democratic control of the US Senate in 2019 a much more realistic possibility.

If Mr Moore prevails, it’d be a prize for the anti-establishment Steve Bannon faction of the Republican Party and an indication that, when it comes to a seat in the US Senate, ideology matters most for some.

Back when Mr Trump named Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general last November, no one imagined all eyes would now be on Alabama. It makes for a fitting end to an entirely unpredictable year, however.

Many other national Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have distanced themselves from their party’s candidate.

Richard Shelby, Alabama’s other senator, said on Sunday he could not endorse Mr Moore because he found his accusers “believable” and the state “deserves better”.

The Moore team is banking on voters in the Deep South’s staunchly conservative heartland refusing to pick a Democrat.

In Washington, a Democratic lawmaker has sent a letter to the Senate’s sergeant at arms (chief law enforcement officer) urging that Congress take steps to ensure the safety of teenagers working in the Senate page programme from Mr Moore’s “predatory conduct”.

“I believe my fears are well founded,” wrote Wisconsin congresswoman Gwen Moore, citing the multiple allegations against Mr Moore.

Mr Moore has kept a low profile in recent days but he said in an interview with The Voice of Alabama Politics on Sunday that he had been a victim of “ritual defamation”.

What about Moore’s opponent?

Democratic candidate Doug Jones accuses Roy Moore of hiding

Mr Jones, a 63-year-old prosecutor, has spent the past week rallying African-Americans and held a series of rallies across the state on Sunday.

On Monday in Birmingham, the Democrat said the election was “one of the most significant in our state’s history” and urged voters to “put our decency… before a political party”.

Mr Jones also accused his Republican opponent of hiding.

Former President Barack Obama and ex-Vice-President Joe Biden have recorded automated phone messages for voters in support of Mr Jones.

“This one’s serious,” Mr Obama said in his call. “You can’t sit it out.”

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Source: BBC

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