Government shutdown becomes longest in US history

The 2025 government shutdown is hours away from breaking a record that will be the longest in history.

The previous record was held by the government shutdown in 2018-2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Trump signed a law ending this shutdown at 9 p.m. on the 35th day.

Tuesday marks the 35th day of the current budget impasse. And since no agreement has yet been reached between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, it is almost certain that the dispute will continue into the 36th day.

The previous shutdown occurred over a disagreement over funding for Trump’s border wall. But this time, it’s Democrats’ priorities that are caught in the middle.

SENA RETURNS TO WORK AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN NEARLY LONGEST IN U.S. HISTORY TO FOLLOW FIGHT AGAINST OBAMACARE

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks to the media next to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on the day U.S. President Donald Trump meets with top congressional leaders from both parties, just ahead of the September 30 deadline to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, at the White House in Washington, DC, September 29, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Republicans have pushed for weeks for a short-term extension of federal funding levels for fiscal 2025, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving lawmakers until Nov. 21 to reach an agreement on fiscal 2026 spending.

The measure is largely free of unrelated policy items, except for an additional $88 million intended to boost security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the Supreme Court.

But Democrats said they would reject any federal funding bill that did not also extend Obamacare’s enhanced subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of 2025. The enhanced subsidies were a COVID-19 pandemic-era measure that a majority of Republicans say is no longer needed.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have said they are open to discussing a reformed version of those grants but have rejected linking the two issues.

The House passed the CR on September 19. Johnson has kept his chamber out of session since then in an effort to pressure Senate Democrats into accepting the GOP bill — although they have rejected it 13 times since then.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune holds a copy of a continuing resolution bill as he speaks alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson during a press conference in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol, October 3, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Senate Republicans have looked to different markers throughout the shutdown as possible exit points for Senate Democrats, such as the nationwide “No Kings” protests, federal workers missing paychecks, the opening of open enrollment nationwide on Nov. 1 and now the record-breaking shutdown coming later Tuesday night.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-SD, noted that Tuesday’s election, and record campaigning “in protest against the president,” could be a factor in how long Senate Democrats continue to extend the shutdown.

TRUMP’S ‘NUCLEAR’ DEMAND FAILS TO LAND FOR SENATE REPUBLICANS AMID SHUTDOWN

“Here’s the reality, they have about a 25 percent approval rating right now, and as one of their colleagues told me, the only way for them to really make progress is to show their base that they’re fighting with the president, and that’s what they’re doing right now,” Rounds said.

“So once they reach the point where they think they’ve made their point, I think there will be an opportunity to do something,” he continued.

There has been more optimism in the Upper House over the past few days than during the entire shutdown so far, as more bipartisan conversations arise. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said lawmakers were on the verge of an escape route, but no concrete steps have yet been taken to end the shutdown.

United States Capitol at sunset, January 30, 2025. (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)

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Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., still want a strong deal on the expiration of the Obamacare subsidies and want Trump to become more involved. This desire, despite the optimism, will likely see the CR passed by the House fail for the 14th time on Tuesday morning.

Asked whether breaking the record would add more weight to lawmakers’ decision to end the shutdown, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., said it would require an outside force.

“I don’t see what it is,” he said. “It’s going to take some kind of outside inflection point, or the best negotiator in the world, to step in.”

Meanwhile, funding for critical government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program, as well as National Flood Insurance, are running short – potentially trapping millions of Americans.