The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Carrie Halperin, Jordan Mazza, Jayce Henderson and Will Cantine

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ABC News' Michael Falcone and Arlette Saenz: "Government Shuts Down After Lawmakers Fail to Agree on Funding Bill" After an all-day game of legislative ping pong that stretched into the early morning hours of Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement on how to keep the government funded, forcing the country into its first government shutdown in nearly two decades. Congress engaged in a game of political hot potato over the past few days as House Republicans have tried to tie the defunding or delay of Obamacare to the government funding bill, and Senate Democrats have insisted they will only accept a clean continuing resolution. LINK

Bloomberg's Roxana Tiron, Richard Rubin & Kathleen Hunter: " Government Shutdown Begins As Deadlocked Congress Flails" The U.S. government began a partial shutdown at midnight for the first time in 17 years, putting as many as 800,000 federal employees out of work today, closing national parks and halting some government services after Congress failed to break a partisan deadlock. No further negotiations were immediately planned, raising concerns among some lawmakers that the shutdown could bleed into a fight economists consider even more consequential: how to raise the nation's debt limit to avoid a first-ever default after Oct. 17. LINK

Boston Globe's Noah Bierman and Mattias Gugel: " Shutdown begins as lawmakers miss midnight deadline" Government services ground to a halt early Tuesday as lawmakers, ensnared in an ideological standoff, failed to prevent a shutdown that nearly all of them said they wanted to avoid. The first federal shutdown in 17 years will put 800,000 workers on furlough when the workday begins Tuesday. National parks and many federal offices will close. The length of the shutdown was uncertain. LINK

The Washington Times' Stephen Dinan: " Government shutdown begins as gridlocked Congress gives up" Congress adjourned early Tuesday morning without renewing funding for the federal government and the White House issued orders beginning the grim task of shutting down "nonessential" services across the nation. Senators gave up first, adjourning soon after midnight, while House lawmakers stuck it out past 1 a.m. But with a middle ground proving elusive and senators refusing to negotiate, they too gave up and vowed to try again later in the day. LINK

The Hill's Russell Berman: " Government shuts down as lawmakers miss funding deadline" Congress missed a midnight deadline to avert a shutdown of the federal government, as the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate battled through the night on legislation to keep the lights on. National parks and museums were set to shutter Tuesday morning, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will stay home on furlough with no financing in place at the start of a new fiscal year. LINK

The New York Times' Jonathan Weisman and Jeremy W. Peters: " Government Shutdown In Impasse" A flurry of last-minute moves by the House, Senate and White House late Monday failed to break a bitter budget standoff over President Obama's health care law, setting in motion the first government shutdown in nearly two decades. The impasse meant that 800,000 federal workers were to be furloughed and more than a million others would be asked to work without pay. LINK

The New York Times' Ashley Parker: " Conservatives With A Cause: 'We're Right'" Senator Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, was the first to take to the Senate floor to publicly pose a question gnawing at an increasing number of lawmakers and ordinary citizens alike as the deadline for a government shutdown neared: Has Congress gone completely crazy? "It's very hard from a distance to figure out who has lost their minds," said Ms. McCaskill immediately after the Senate on Monday rejected a Republican plan to not finance the government unless Democrats agreed to delay the new health law. "One party, the other party, all of us, the president." LINK

The Washington Post's Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane: " Shutdown Begins: House Officials Say No More Funding Votes Tonight" The U.S. government began to shut down for the first time in 17 years early Tuesday, after a Congress bitterly divided over President Obama's signature health-care initiative failed to reach agreement to fund federal agencies. Hours before a midnight deadline, the Republican House passed its third proposal in two weeks to fund the government for a matter of weeks. Like the previous plans, the new one sought to undermine the Affordable Care Act, this time by delaying enforcement of the "individual mandate," a cornerstone of the law that requires all Americans to obtain health insurance. LINK

The Washington Post's Dan Balz: " Shutdown Stalemate Shows Larger GOP Dilemma: How To Be A Governing Party" Amid all the maneuvering and hand-wringing ahead of the government shutdown, one thing remained clear: House Republicans are continuing to grapple unsuccessfully with what it means to be a governing party. Whatever happens with the crisis in the coming days will not resolve a contradiction that has bedeviled Republicans in the two decades since they swept to power in the House after 40 years in the minority. The GOP won the majority in 1994 and was returned to power in 2010 on a wave of antigovernment sentiment. In the majority, Republicans have often been stymied by the need to produce compromises while satisfying that part of their base that considers compromise as selling out principles. LINK

Politico's Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Burgess Everett: " Government Shutdown: Congress Sputters On CR" The government has officially shut down. The partisan gridlock in Washington proved insurmountable, as House Republicans continue to insist on changing, delaying or defunding Obamacare as the price for keeping the government open, while Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama firmly rejected that position. It's the first government shutdown since 1996, when Newt Gingrich was the House speaker and Bill Clinton was president. The House and Senate stayed in session until the wee hours Tuesday morning, but there is no clear path toward solving the budgetary impasse. LINK

ABC NEWS VIDEO "Carney, What's Negotiable in Shutdown Fight? Not Much" LINK

BOOKMARKS The Note: LINK The Must-Reads Online: LINK Top Line Webcast (12noon EST M-F): LINK ABC News Politics: LINK George's Bottom Line (George Stephanopoulos): LINK Follow ABC News on Twitter: LINK ABC News Mobile: LINK ABC News app on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad: LINK