For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.
The government shutdown is now in its 34th day and is on the cusp of setting a record for the longest in the nation’s history.
It’s a record no one — President Donald Trump, congressional Republicans or Democrats — wants to be a part of.
But after more than a month of finger-pointing and 13 U.S. Senate votes on a GOP stopgap spending bill that have been blocked by Democrats, it is all but inevitable.
There was no urgency among political leaders over the weekend. The president, soon after returning from his Asia trip, flew from Washington to Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The Senate was not in session and lawmakers left on Thursday, with some experiencing flight delays linked to the shutdown and absences of unpaid air traffic controllers.
The House, which has not been in session since Sept. 19, will again be out this week.
Still, lawmakers hold out hope that some fitful discussions involving rank-and-file senators and the increasing financial pain of the shutdown will gradually build pressure to reopen the government.
When will it end?
There is plenty of guessing and speculation on Capitol Hill, but the truth is, no one knows exactly when the shutdown will end.
The shutdown will become the longest in U.S. history in just a matter of days.
The 2018-2019 shutdown during President Trump’s first term lasted 34 full days, spilling into a 35th day.
No one expects this shutdown to end by Tuesday, so on Wednesday, this will be the longest shutdown ever.
Part of the reason lawmakers don’t see a breakthrough on Tuesday is because Virginia and New Jersey have elections for governor.
Lawmakers of both parties don’t believe congressional Democrats will make any significant concessions ahead of those elections, since they don’t want to be viewed as caving as voters go to the polls.
Democrats are also leaning into the fact that Saturday was the beginning of open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, and many people are learning how high their insurance premiums could go, if subsidies for the ACA aren’t extended before the end of the year.
“Republicans have spent the entire shutdown with their heads in the sand for the shutdown they caused, because they would not negotiate with Democrats,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
That assertion is flatly rejected by Republican leaders, who have blasted Schumer and Democrats for repeatedly failing to help provide the 60 votes needed to advance the GOP continuing resolution that would reopen the government.
“The simplest way to end the pain and the simplest way to make this stop is for the Democrats to do the obvious and right thing and vote for the non-partisan funding measure, so that we can turn everything back on,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been holding daily news conferences during the shutdown.
Distrust over a deal to end the shutdown
While members of both parties state every day that they want the shutdown to end, a basic lack of trust between the two parties is a major roadblock to a resolution.
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, of Virginia, like many Democrats, is wary of pledges from Republicans that they will address key issues involving the Affordable Care Act once the government is reopened.
“We want the president to agree on what I call a moratorium on mischief,” Kaine said.
Kaine said he understands the push by federal workers who aren’t getting paid to get the government reopened.
The largest union representing federal employees, AFGE, last week, urged the Senate to pass the GOP continuing resolution.
“In my conversations with federal employees, they are encouraging us to find a deal that reopens government, ” Kaine said, adding that a “deal has to be a deal.”
“They don’t want me to shake hands with the president on a deal that opens the government and then have the president fire tens of thousands of federal employees next week,” Kaine said.
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