• The government shutdown entered day 22 at midnight Eastern
  Time, setting the record for the longest shutdown of the modern
  budgeting era.
• The shutdown surpassed the 21-day shutdown of 1995 and 1996 as the longest ever.
• The shutdown does not appear to be close to ending as President
  Donald Trump and Democrats remain dug in to their positions on the
  president’s request for $5 billion to build a US-Mexico border wall.
• The shutdown has also left 800,000 federal workers with no paychecks.
• Airport security, food inspections, mortgage services, national parks, and more are being affected by the shutdown.

The partial shutdown of the federal government
officially became the longest of the modern budgeting era on Saturday,
as it entered day 22 with no end in sight.

By making it into the fourth week, the shutdown surpassed the 21-day funding lapse
in 1995 and 1996 as the longest since the modern budgeting system was
implemented in 1974. Where the new bar will end up remains to be seen as
President Donald Trump and Democrats appear to be nowhere close to
resolving the standoff over money for the president’s long-promised wall
along the US-Mexico border, despite constant discussions and posturing.

The shutdown has forced 800,000 federal workers and millions of federal contract employees to go without pay for three weeks, and disrupted government services across the country.

Well, how did we get here?

While the fight probably started as soon as
Trump declared that he would build a wall along the US-Mexico border if
elected in 2016, the shutdown officially started on December 22 after
Trump refused to support a bill that extended funding for some
government agencies through February 8.

The Senate had passed the clean funding bill
just days before federal funding expired, and Trump was poised to sign
off on the measure before pushback from conservative TV pundits, such as
Ann Coulter, swayed the president. Trump suddenly declared that the
clean funding bill was not agreeable, leading to a standoff with
Democrats.

The two sides barely talked over the holiday
break, and talks in the new year have been acrimonious at best. In fact,
Trump has even gone so far as to suggest that he could try and declare a national emergency in order to get funds for the wall, bypassing Congress altogether.

 trump pelosi

The most recent round of negotiations ended
when Trump stormed out of the Situation Room after House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi flatly refused to fund the president’s wall, even if the
government was reopened. According to Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, Trump slammed the table on his way out, but the White House
disputed the accusation.

Trump’s tweet after the encounter on Wednesday probably serves as a neat summation of the state of affairs.

“Just left a meeting with Chuck and Nancy, a
total waste of time,” Trump said. “I asked what is going to happen in 30
days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border
Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO. I said
bye-bye, nothing else works!”

Once in a lifetime

The shutdown marks the 21st time since the budget process was overhauled in 1974 that the federal government has experienced a funding lapse.

The previous shutdowns have averaged eight
days, but the current shutdown will push that average up to at least 8
1/2 days. Shutdowns have also been getting longer recently. Excluding the nine-hour shutdown in February 2018 caused by Sen. Rand Paul , shutdowns since 1990 have averaged 11 days.

The current government shutdown is also only
the 10th shutdown to have workers on furlough, with the practice
becoming much more common in recent years. Every shutdown since 1990,
save the Rand Paul lapse, has forced workers to go on furlough.

Additionally, Trump is the only president to
place federal employees on furlough while one party controlled both
chambers of Congress which Republicans did during both the January 2018
shutdown and the current one.

The current shutdown is also the only funding
lapse during which a chamber of Congress changed party control.
Democrats took over the House on January 3.

Gov shutdowns 22 DAYS

The latest shutdown also marks a total of
three funding lapses during Trump’s presidency, giving him the third
most of any president, behind former President Jimmy Carter’s five and
former President Ronald Reagan’s eight. Trump also ranks fourth in total
shutdown days for modern presidents, behind Carter’s 67 days and the
28-day mark shared by former President Bill Clinton and Reagan.

And 2018 became just the second year of the modern era to have three funding lapses, tying 1977’s record.

Gov shutdowns by President 26 DAYS

Letting the days go by

As the shutdown drags on, the effects from the government closures are becoming more and more noticeable.

The shutdown does not affect all agencies
because Congress passed bills to fund some departments, such as the
departments of Defense and Energy in September, but there are many
departments that are closed, including the departments of Agriculture,
Commerce, Justice, Homeland Security, the Interior, State,
Transportation, and the Housing and Urban Development.

Some 420,000 workers at those agencies have
been deemed “essential” and therefore are continuing to work without pay
during the closure. The other 380,000 have been furloughed, or barred
from coming into work and left without pay.

The essential workers will immediately receive
back pay when the shutdown ends, and Congress passed a bill on Friday
that would give the furloughed workers back pay once the government
reopens. Trump still needs to sign the bill.

In addition to the lost paychecks, there is a slew of other problems caused by the shutdown, including:

• Airport security and flight safety are deteriorating.
• National parks have seen destruction of wildlife and piles of waste .
• Rent assistance for low-income Americans is frozen.
• Most food inspections by the FDA have stopped, increasing the chance of a food-poisoning outbreak.
• The US Forest Service is unable to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season.

• For more on the government shutdown, check out all of our coverage :
• From
  airport lines to food inspections, here are all the ways the government
  shutdown is impacting the lives of average Americans
• Federal
  workers affected by the government shutdown have more than $400 million
  in mortgage and rent payments due this month, and it could cause chaos
  for the US housing market
• Here’s what happens to Social Security and disability benefits during a government shutdown
• Here’s what happens to food stamps and other federal food programs during the government shutdown
• Local
  officials in Washington, DC, joked about cutting off the White House’s
  running water after the shutdown forced the federal government to delay
  paying its bill
• Some federal workers received their first $0 paycheck Friday because of the government shutdown but there is some good news
• Here’s how the government shutdown could affect the race between Amazon and Microsoft for a $10 billion Pentagon cloud contract
• Here’s what would happen if Trump declared a national emergency to build his border wall
• This map shows which states have been hit hardest by the shutdown, and blue states are faring worst
• Over
  80 US government websites have become insecure or completely
  inaccessible because there are no workers there to update security
  credentials
• Park rangers share fears of unemployment as national parks overflow with garbage during the government shutdown