The ongoing government shutdown has officially extended to 36 days, marking it as the longest in U.S. history.
This milestone surpasses the previous record, which was set during the shutdown from December 2018 to January 2019 under the Trump administration.
That shutdown originated from a conflict over funding for President Trump’s southern border wall and lasted for 35 days, resulting in an estimated $3 billion loss in GDP.
After a series of escalating disruptions, including significant impacts on air travel, pressure mounted on Trump and Congressional Republicans, leading to a compromise.
This current shutdown began on October 1 after Congress failed to resolve the ongoing funding negotiations.
Over a month into the stalemate, there are no clear signs of resolution.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, since the modern budget process was introduced in 1976, there have been 20 funding gaps.
However, most of these were brief in duration.
Prior to this, only three shutdowns in the last three decades exceeded two weeks in length, with an earlier one in 1978 occurring before the current funding gap procedures were established.
At present, Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, require 60 votes in the Senate to pass any spending bill.
Democrats are leveraging this situation to advocate for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire this year.
If these subsidies are not renewed, millions of Americans could face losing their health insurance.
Republicans have indicated they would consider negotiations on the subsidies, but only once the government is reopened.
Meanwhile, both parties continue to blame each other publicly, with little sign of progress towards ending the shutdown.
The Senate has made 14 unsuccessful attempts to pass a stopgap funding bill that was approved by the House.
The House has been out of session since the shutdown commenced.
The effects of the prolonged shutdown are hitting Americans hard.
More than 1 million federal workers are currently working without pay, while around 600,000 are on furlough.
Although a law enacted in 2019 guarantees that furloughed employees will receive backpay, recent comments from President Trump have raised concerns about whether those payments will actually be fulfilled.
Moreover, significant disruptions have occurred in air traffic control, leading to delays at airports nationwide.
National park operations have been reduced, and major attractions like the Smithsonian museums are closed.
The IRS has furloughed nearly half of its staff, creating significant delays in taxpayer services.
Children from low-income families are gravely affected, as tens of thousands risk losing access to the Head Start program.
Recently, federal food and nutrition benefits, including those from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), were halted over the weekend, prompting backlash from two federal judges.
In a response to this backlash, the Trump administration announced that payments would be resumed, but with delays and potentially only half the usual amount.
In a CBS News interview over the weekend, President Trump continued to assign blame to Democrats, advocating for Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to bypass Democratic opposition.
Senate Republicans have thus far refused to act on this suggestion.
While President Trump claimed his prior involvement facilitated the end of the last shutdown, he appears less willing to negotiate this time, asserting, ‘I’m not gonna do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way.’
image source from：npr
