Lawmakers in Washington often threaten government shutdowns, and it feels like every year they get pretty close.

But today, for the first time in six years, it actually happened.

We start with the latest in the government shutdown.

The U.S. government is now officially shut down.

The U.S. government officially shut officially shut down. The U.S. government officially shut down at midnight.

The metro was noticeably quieter this morning, commuting to work.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the district likely woke up to furlough notices with the shutdown,

and it seems like the area is quieter because of it.

That's our colleague Natalie Andrews.

We've had government shutdowns twice in this century, one in 2019 and one in 2013.

But what makes this one different?

This one is different primarily because lawmakers are really at a stalemate here in a way that it doesn't seem like there's an easy off-ramp.

And that's going to make it hard for any sort of real agreement or breakthrough.

And there's one more thing making this shutdown different.

A man named Russell Vote.

Ross Vote, the head of the OMB, which manages the budget, has asked agencies to look at places

where they could reduce the size of the federal government during a shutdown.

Essentially fire people and sort of just put people on furlough. That's never happened. In other words, there's a shutdown. Essentially fire people and instead of just put people on furlough, that's never

happened. In other words, there's a chance this shutdown could reshape the federal government

for the long haul. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Ryan

Knudsen. It's Wednesday, October 1st.

Coming up on the show, the government shut down and what it means for the country.

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