New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- Closures spread, jobs numbers pause, travelers feel it, Washington argues.

Washington - The Capitol is lit and the microphones are on, yet the core machinery of government is idling. The United States has entered another weekend of a federal funding lapse, and the shutdown is beginning to move from an abstract fight in Congress to a set of specific frictions in daily life. Senate votes failed again to clear a path to reopen agencies. Lawmakers left town with statements that hardened more than they softened. Inside the White House, advisers frame the impasse as a chance to reorder government. Across the aisle, Democrats argue that using a lapse in appropriations to force permanent policy changes would set a precedent ...