The ongoing government shutdown entered its 36th full day on Wednesday, which officially makes it the longest in U.S. history.
It takes the title from the most recent shutdown, which stretched from December 2018 to January 2019 during the first Trump administration.
That impasse started with Democrats' refusal to fund President Trump's southern border wall. It ended — 35 days and an estimated $3 billion in lost GDP later — after a series of escalating disruptions, including to air travel, put pressure on Trump and Republicans in Congress to reach a compromise.
This time around, the government shuttered on Oct. 1 after Congress failed to break a stalemate over funding negotiations. More than a month later, an end to the stalemate appears nowhere in sight.
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There have been 20 "funding gaps" since Congress introduced the modern budget process in 1976, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, but many of those were only a few days long. Before now, only three shutdowns lasted more than two weeks — and they were all within the last 30 years.
While Republicans control both chambers, they need 60 votes to pass a spending bill in the Senate. Democrats are using that as leverage to push for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are due to expire at the end of this year, potentially leaving millions of Americans without health insurance. Republicans have said they are open to talks on the subsidies — but only after the government reopens.
In the meantime, both parties are pointing the finger at each other and doing little, at least publicly, to reopen the government. The Senate has now tried — and failed — 14 times to pass a House-approved stopgap funding bill. The House, meanwhile, has been out of session since the shutdown began.
Americans are feeling the worsening impacts every day.
Over 1 million federal workers are working without paychecks. Another roughly 600,000 have been furloughed, and although a 2019 law ensures they are entitled to backpay after the shutdown is over, recent comments by President Trump have left many worried about whether that will still happen.
Air traffic control shortages have caused delays and disruptions at airports across the country. National park sites are reducing operations and Smithsonian museums are closed. The IRS furloughed nearly half its staff, creating delays in taxpayer services. Tens of thousands of children from low-income families are now at risk of losing access to the Head Start program.
And, federal food and nutrition benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) stopped over the weekend, prompting widespread outcry and pushback from two federal judges. In response, the Trump administration says it will restart those payments — but they will be delayed and may only be for half the amount people typically get.
In a weekend interview with CBS News, Trump continued to place blame on Democrats, and called on Senate Republicans to end the filibuster to bypass Democrats altogether. Senate Republicans have rejected that plea.
Trump acknowledged that his involvement helped bring an end to the previous shutdown, but didn't appear as willing to compromise this time: "I'm not gonna do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way."
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