U. S. federal agencies were ordered to start executing plans for an orderly shutdown after the Obama government failed to get a budget passed to avert the shutdown.

White House Office of Management & Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced on Monday night, "Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations."

The order for the shutdown was issued nearly ten minutes before the U. S. government officially ran out of money. Congress failed to pass a budget to avert the crisis a after harsh verbal war been the Republicans-controlled House of Representatives and the Democrats-controlled Senate.

The shutdown happened at midnight eastern standard time. It was the first US federal government shutdown in around 17 years.

Burwell added that the Obama administration had urged Congress to take urgent steps to ensure that important government services could be brought back at the earliest.

The budget director also admitted that shutdown of government services would bring inconvenience to millions of people who rely on them, while also forcing hundreds of thousands of workers out of jobs.

Burwell, however, stressed that some critical services, such as the military and air traffic control, would remain open.