Government shutdown becomes longest in US history

BBC:

The US government shutdown has entered its 36th day, making it the longest period of time the American government has been closed.

The shutdown, which began 1 October, was prompted by the inability of Congress to agree to a new funding deal. It has left government workers without paycheque and millions of Americans without essential services.

Democrats and Republicans have remained gridlocked for weeks without any signs of a compromise – though some glimmers of hope are beginning to show.

Majority Leader John Thune, the Senate’s top Republican, said his “gut” told him that a possible breakthrough might be on the horizon.

“I just think, based on, sort of, my gut of how these things operate, I think we’re getting close to an off-ramp here,” Thune said.

The previous government shutdown record happened during Donald Trump’s first term as president and lasted 35 days before it ended in 2019.

In the weeks since this shutdown started, the impacts on everyday Americans has worsened.

Thousands of federal workers have already missed paycheques, and there are growing fears of increased impacts to air travel across the US as air traffic controllers and airport staff work without pay.

On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News that some areas of US airspace might have to be closed if the government shutdown continues. About 13,000 air traffic controllers, who are government employees, have been working without pay due to the shutdown.

“If you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos,” Duffy said. “You will see mass flight delays. You’ll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”

The impacts have also been felt by low-income Americans who rely on government services.

One in eight people in the US are dependent on food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) but only a portion of that assistance is being paid out this month due to lapsed funding.