Government shutdown becomes longest in US history as impact felt nationwide

The government shutdown in the United States has reached its 36th day, breaking the previous record for the longest in the country’s history and causing a million Americans’ lives.

On Wednesday, federal program cuts that affect food assistance, among other crucial aspects of daily life, flight delays, and federal employees who are forced to work without pay were scheduled to continue.

Since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30th, federal agencies have been grinding to a halt, and welfare programs are still in jeopardy.

Republican senators and US President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet early on Wednesday for breakfast, where they will share the previous government shutdown record. However, there haven’t been any scheduled discussions with the Democrats.

Trump has vowed to negotiate with Democrats until they agree to reopen the government, claiming they are “extorting” him by demanding that they keep their deadlines for health insurance subsidies.

If the shutdown drags on past six weeks, worsening staff shortages, snarling airports, and closing down certain areas of airspace, the Trump administration sounded the alarm hours before the record-breaking shutdown toppled at midnight on Tuesday.

If air traffic controllers miss another paycheque, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted chaos in the skies the following week.

The American Automobile Association predicted that 5.8 million people will travel domestically on Thanksgiving, the busiest holiday in the US, for a record this year.

The White House has warned that more absenteeism could cause chaos at check-in lines because more than 60 000 air traffic controllers and TSA officers are employed without pay.

A major factor in Trump’s decision to end the 2019 shutdown, which began with his demands for money to build a US-Mexico border wall, was airport workers calling in sick rather than working without pay. This caused significant delays.

Democrats and Republicans, however, remain unwavering about healthcare spending, which is currently the main sticking point.

Democrats promise to support the funding lapse only once a deal has been reached to make healthcare accessible to all of the country’s millions of people.

Republicans say they will only address healthcare when Democrats will vote to turn off the lights in Washington, D.C.

There have been signs of life on the back benches, with a few moderate Democrats trying to find an escape hatch, despite leadership on both sides’ parties’ lack of appetite for compromise.

On Monday, a separate bipartisan group of four House members from centrist parties unveiled a compromise plan to lower healthcare costs.

Democrats think Republicans will be forced to find a compromise by millions of Americans who are enrolling in health insurance programs for the upcoming year.

Trump has attempted to use the shutdown to advance progressive priorities and appoint new pressure to make Democrats cling to the floor.

Even though the move was blocked by two courts, he threatened to stop a vital aid program that helps 42 million Americans for the first time in its more than 60-year history on Tuesday.