New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- museums inch toward darkness, park gates swing shut, and a safety net frays while Congress argues procedure.

Washington - On the third morning of the federal funding lapse, the rituals of American government felt improvised. At Muir Woods, rangers taped paper notices to trailheads while volunteers tried to steer bewildered visitors toward open overlooks. In Philadelphia, tourists queued beneath the Liberty Bell only to find the doors locked. In Washington, curators at the Smithsonian said they could keep the museums open a few more days with last year's money, and then, no promises. The nation's capital, like the country at large, was living off reserves.

The budget standoff that halted large swaths of the US govern...