The bitterly divided, and increasingly dysfunctional, US Congress has forced the federal government to partially shut down.

The issue is the ongoing debate over President Barack Obama’s health care law. Tea Party Republicans used a routine government spending bill to try to delay implementation of so-called Obamacare. When the Democrats wouldn’t accep it, funding for all but non-essential government activities shut down. That put 800,000 government workers on unpaid leave.

US Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid placed the blame on House Republicans. He says Republicans are still acting as if it’s an election year.

The last government shutdown was in 1996 in a face-off against Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich.