The partial government shutdown is on track to become the longest in history as the Senate headed home for the weekend Thursday with no funding deal in sight.
The lack of action on a stopgap spending measure means the 30-day-old shutdown will continue at least into next week. The record was set in President Donald Trump’s first term, when a partial shutdown lasted 35 days, from December 2018 to January 2019, in a fight over funding for a southern border wall.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Thursday that he expects bipartisan talks focused on breaking the logjam to continue into the weekend. But there was still much uncertainty in the Senate as to what kind of off-ramp could earn sufficient support, despite members of both parties reporting an uptick in talks this week.
