We’re number one! The ongoing partial government shutdown is tied for the longest government shutdown ever, and will be uncontested champion on Saturday. Until now, the record-holder has been the 21-day shutdown from December 1995 to January 1996, when a Republican Congress was trying to show President Bill Clinton who was boss.
Donald Trump continues to demand more than $5 billion in funding for a border wall, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to take up House-passed legislation that’s virtually identical to what the Senate unanimously passed in December. A handful of House Republicans have been joining Democrats in voting to re-open the government.
Senate Republicans up for re-election in 2020 are ignoring potential political peril, as voters aren’t thrilled about this shutdown. Meanwhile, Trump is threatening to make things worse by raiding disaster relief funds to get his wall started. And the shutdown is dragging on into record-breaking territory, when experts agree that the effects will balloon as time goes on, as 800,000 federal workers reach the breaking point from missing paychecks, and other effects of the shutdown make themselves felt on growing numbers of farmers, craft brewers, companies seeking exemptions from metal tariffs, mortgage applicants, and more.