US govt shutdown extended as lawmakers fail to reach an agreement

Washington: The US government shutdown has been extended as the lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to end it before the beginning of the working week.

The lawmakers postponed a crunch vote in the Senate despite marathon negotiations.

Vowing to use state funds to keep the landmark monument in operation, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had on Sunday said that the Statue of Liberty will reopen even if the US government shutdown extends into the work week.

However, dozens of other national parks and monuments were expected to remain partially or entirely closed after Congress failed to agree on a spending plan to keep the government running past a Friday midnight deadline.

Although leaders of President Donald Trump's Republican party and the opposition Democrats said progress had been made in a weekend of talks, they pushed back a vote scheduled for 1:00 am (1130 IST) Monday for another 11 hours.

The delay means the shutdown - which cast a huge shadow over the first anniversary of Trump's inauguration as president on Saturday - will force hundreds of thousands of federal government workers to stay at home without pay when they would normally report for duty on Monday morning.

(With agency inputs)