AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
With a government shutdown looming, Senate Republicans and Democrats remain at odds over funding, with Vice President Vance blaming Democrats for the stalemate. Government shutdowns, while disruptive, are not uncommon, with 14 occurring since 1980. The most recent, a record-breaking 34-day closure, happened during Trump’s first term from December 2018 to January 2019. This shutdown stemmed from a disagreement over funding for the border wall, with Democrats refusing to allocate the requested amount. Despite Trump’s threats, he ultimately signed legislation to temporarily fund the government. A subsequent bill provided significantly less wall funding than initially sought.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
With less than 24 hours to avoid a government shutdown, Senate Republicans and Democrats are locked in a bitter stalemate as they’ve yet to make any progress in their funding talks. After a pivotal Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional leaders on Monday provided no results, Vice President J.D. Vance placed the blame with Democrats.
With the government funding deadline of midnight on Tuesday steadily approaching, thoughts are turning to what a shutdown might look like and when they’ve previously occurred.
In reality, although best avoided as they can bring a halt to vital services, government shutdowns are not entirely uncommon in the U.S. There have been 14 shutdowns since 1980, the most recent took place during Trump’s first term.
When did the last government shutdown happen?
There were three government shutdowns during Trump’s first term. The last occurred in late 2018 and continued over the festive season.
The majority of government activity came to a halt for a full 34 days from Dec. 22 to Jan. 25, making it the longest closure of its kind in U.S. history. This beat the previous record of 21 days, set under President Bill Clinton.
NASA, the Department of Transportation, the IRS, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) were some of the departments in which workers were put on mandatory furlough.
Read More: Top Democrats Leave White House With No Deal as Shutdown Nears
What led to the last government shutdown?
To Trump’s disapproval, the Senate failed to pass a bill that included the funding for the border wall. A senate vote of at least 60 in favor of the bill was required, but Democrats were unwilling to budge on the border wall funding, a project that was estimated at the time by Democrats to cost up to $70 billion to build and $150 million annually to maintain.
Trump had previously threatened to initiate a shutdown. “I would be willing to ‘shut down’ [the] government if the Democrats do not give us the votes for border security, which includes the wall!” the President said via social media in July 2018.
Schumer, in January 2019, strongly critiqued Trump’s stance, arguing: “We should not treat hundreds of thousands of Americans, millions of Americans, as leverage to try and get something by pounding the table. That’s not how our government works.”
Ultimately, amid the turmoil, Trump signed legislation to temporarily fund the government until Feb. 15, 2019, but that still left the question of border wall funding in the air.
Days before the Feb. 15 deadline, a revised bill was passed, allocating just $1.4 billion in funding to wall construction, much less than what Trump had originally envisioned.
