The possibility of United State Government heading for a shut-down has been looming large for quite sometime with stand-off between Republic and Democrat senators not able to find a way for the fund shortage. In order to keep the government running short term extension of funding is needed which needs Congressional approval and the current authorisation ends today. In the absence of such an authorisation, functioning of the federal government would come to a standstill, with hundreds and thousands of its forced to stop working and stay at home without pay. The last time that a government shutdown happened was in 2013. It was for more than a fortnight. The situation is so bad that government had to come out with a clarification that military will still go to work; the border will still be patrolled; fire folks will still be fighting the fires; and the parks will be open. But in each of these cases people will not be paid and all other services where people need to work would not be paid which is simply not fair. The Republican who enjoy a think majority of 51 in a 100 -member Senate, needs nine more votes from the opposition Democratic Party as the legislation requires 60 votes for passage. Still, it comes with no shortage of embarrassment for the President and political risk for both parties, as they wager that voters will punish the other at the ballot box in November. Social Security and most other safety net programmes are unaffected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions will continue, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay. But if no deal is brokered before Monday, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be furloughed.