The US government has shut down after Congress failed to pass a key budgetary measure on time. <br/><br/>The shutdown today marks the second partial federal shutdown in less than a month. Republican senator,Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the Senate proceeding to vote on a two-year budget deal that would boost military and domestic spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, saying it would explode America's rising federal deficit and add to the nation's more than 20 trillion dollar national debt. <br/><br/>The Senate is expected to approve the stopgap bill and budget deal today and send it to the House of Representatives. House Republican leaders said the package would be approved, possibly before the start of the work day. <br/><br/>Meanwhile, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent an email to federal government employees last night citing the expiry of funding and advising them to consult their agencies for guidance on reporting for duty today.