Shutdown’s 17th Day Marks Longest Government-Wide Funding Lapse

Funding for every government agency has lapsed for 17 days and counting, marking the longest full government-wide shutdown in US history.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers — including congressional staffers — have been furloughed (or are working without pay) for more than two weeks. The longest previous government-wide funding lapse, meaning no spending bills were signed into law before a deadline, lasted 16 days in fiscal 2014.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) warned the country is “barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats drop their demands.”

While longer shutdowns took place in fiscal 1996 and 2019, those were partial, meaning some federal agencies were funded. Shutdowns had little impact before a 1980 legal opinion, as agencies continued to operate with the expectation that they’d receive funding later.

With no end in sight, House GOP leaders have begun to raise concerns about shutdown-related travel complications for Thanksgiving, which is more than a month away.

“Airports will be flooded with flight cancellations and delays amid the busiest time to travel all year” if the shutdown continues, House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) said this week, blaming Democrats.

Democrats continue to place the onus to fund the government on Republicans, who’ve kept the House out of session and refused to negotiate on health care. Republicans say Democrats need to accept a clean funding stopgap after advocating for similar measures for years.

Dates to Watch

While there’s no clear end in sight, lawmakers have a few dates circled on their calendars as possible breakthroughs in the funding gridlock.

Republicans, particularly in the House, are publicly hoping Democrats fold after this Saturday, when liberal groups plan to organize “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration. Republicans, who’ve dubbed this weekend a “hate America rally,” say Senate Democrats will eventually accept their continuing resolution but don’t want to face opposition at the protests.

Democrats roundly deny that “No Kings” has played any part in their decision-making. Even if it did, there’s no reason to believe Democrats would face less intraparty backlash for folding right after a left-leaning pep rally.

Democrats are looking toward Nov. 1: the beginning of open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. They expect that congressional Republicans will feel more pressure to negotiate a health care compromise as that date approaches.

“People are talking about open enrollment, Nov. 1, all the time,” Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.) said of congressional Democrats’ internal conversations, adding that “the ‘No Kings’ rallies haven’t come up once.”

Read More: Democrats Circle Nov. 1 on Calendars as Shutdown Fight Drags On

But lawmakers are openly girding for a shutdown lasting well into next month. Emmer’s warnings of travel disruptions at Thanksgiving raise the possibility of a shutdown lasting more than 50 days — well beyond the 34-day record set in 2018 and 2019. That shutdown though was only a partial one.

“If this drags on to Thanksgiving, there’s going to be a lot of problems with travel,” said Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.), whose committee has jurisdiction over the Transportation Security Administration.

“If there is travel disruption at Thanksgiving, which I pray that we’re not still here, it’s going to be Republican disruption,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).

Legislative Branch Lapse

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) staffers not getting paid feel like “ping pong balls” caught in a political game.

(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Among the federal workers who’ll miss paychecks until the government opens are congressional staffers. Senate staff, who are paid bimonthly, will soon miss their first full paycheck. House staff are paid monthly, so they won’t miss a check unless this shutdown drags on into November.

“Everybody that’s caught in this and who isn’t getting paid feels like a ping pong ball,” Dingell said.

Hill staffers still got paid during the 34-day fiscal 2019 shutdown as the Legislative Branch was already funded. Congress was also funded during the 21-day partial shutdown in fiscal 1996, the second-longest in history. Until now, the longest the legislature has gone without funding was 16 days in fiscal 2014.

Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.), an appropriator on the Legislative Branch subcommittee, said there haven’t yet been any serious impacts on Congress from the lapse in appropriations. The legislative branch funding bill is one of three in an appropriations “minibus” that House and Senate appropriators are trying to conference.

Moore predicted the way out of the shutdown is piece by piece, with the House and Senate passing minibuses to open portions of the government at a time. The House and Senate have already been “pre-conferencing” the three-bill minibus, Moore added, with appropriators staying in contact despite the House being out of session.

“We are very close on all these bills,” Moore said of the minibus.

Democrats have pushed back on this idea, saying Republican leaders haven’t negotiated with them on the appropriations bills. A handful of Democrats would need to agree to move forward with any minibus in the Senate, where bills 60 votes are necessary to overcome the filibuster.

On the Senate side, lawmakers are becoming weary and pessimistic after taking failed votes on the House-passed continuing resolution.

“This shutdown is going to last a while,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “I think it’s going to be the longest shutdown in the history of ever.”