The US federal government shutdown became the longest in history on Wednesday, as top Democrats argued the party’s sweeping victories in last night’s elections vindicated their strategy in the fight over spending.
The shutdown crossed the 36-day mark, beating the previous, 35-day record set in December 2018 and January 2019 during Donald Trump’s first term, when government funding legislation was held up over his insistence on including money to build a wall along the border with Mexico.
The standoff began on the first day of October, after Democratic senators refused to vote for a government funding bill unless it included an extension of Joe Biden-era tax credits that lower costs for health plans purchased through Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges. Tens of millions of Americans are expected to be unable to afford insurance once the credits expire at the end of 2025.
On Tuesday, Democrats won gubernatorial elections by sizable margins in New Jersey and Virginia, while greatly expanding their majority in the latter’s house of delegates. They also retained three liberal supreme court justices in Pennsylvania and won approval for new congressional maps in California that are expected to boost their hopes of retaking the US House of Representatives next year.
“Americans realize Republicans are responsible for this awful shutdown, now the longest, officially, in history. What a shameless milestone,” said Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat.
Senator Chris Murphy said: “Last night was a referendum on Trump’s corruption, cruelty and chaos. But it’s also not a coincidence these big wins came at the exact moment when Democrats are using our power to stand for something and be strong.”
He added that it would be “a huge risk to not learn that lesson”.
MoveOn, a liberal group that has encouraged Democrats to hold firm in their demands, issued a statement discouraging the party’s moderates from brokering a deal with Republicans to reopen the government, amid reports that negotiations had picked up.
“Voters have sent a resounding message: we want leaders who fight for us, and we want solutions that make life more affordable. The onus is on Republicans, who have total control of this shutdown, to bring the government back by restoring healthcare access, as the American public demands,” MoveOn Political Action’s executive director, Katie Bethell, said.
In a breakfast meeting with Republican senators at the White House, Trump said that “the shutdown was a big factor” in the GOP’s poor election performance. He called for his party to change the Senate’s filibuster rule, which requires most legislation to receive at least 60 votes to advance through the chamber.
“It’s time for Republicans to do what they have to do, and that’s terminate the filibuster. It’s the only way you can do it,” he said, predicting that, if Republicans do not, “we won’t pass any legislation”.
The Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, has said that not enough of his party’s lawmakers support doing that. Though Trump warned that Democrats would abolish the filibuster when they are next in the majority, the idea was discussed by the party in the early part of Joe Biden’s term – when they had control of both Congress and the White House – but was ultimately scrapped.
Thune has held 14 votes on a Republican-backed bill to reopen the government, but it has yet to receive the necessary bipartisan support to pass. Approved by the Republican-controlled House with only a single Democrat voting in favor, the legislation would keep the government open through 21 November, but with that date rapidly approaching, the GOP is expected to come up with another proposal to continue funding, potentially into next year.
The troubling milestones have piled up as the shutdown stretched from days into weeks. About 700,000 federal workers were furloughed when the government closed, while about the same amount were told to continue working, without receiving paychecks until new funding is authorized. The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, has kept the House in recess ever since it passed the funding bill on 19 September, and the GOP has rejected attempts to pass standalone bills to pay certain federal employees.
In mid-October, Trump announced that he would order that US military personnel be paid their regular salaries using unspent Pentagon research and development funds – a decision that experts told the Guardian was probably illegal. But his administration also attempted to stop payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at the start of November, then said it would pay out only half their normal amount after two dozen states sued over the decision.
Republicans have sought to channel the public’s ire against Democrats for the shutdown, through recent polls have shown the GOP taking the majority of the blame among the public.
“Can this be over now? Have the American people suffered enough? Or do Democrats need more?” Thune said in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Democrats, who lost control of the Senate in last year’s election and failed to win back control of the House, have insisted that the responsibility for compromise lies with Republicans. Despite their majorities, Republicans will need at least eight Democratic votes to get their spending legislation past the Senate’s filibuster. Only three Democrats have voted for the current funding bill in the upper chamber, while Rand Paul, a Republican senator, has voted against it.
Democrats also say that the GOP must address the increase in premiums for plans under the ACA, which are expected to jump by an average of 26% if the tax credits are allowed to expire, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Open enrollment for those plans began at the start of November.
The nonpartisan congressional budget office predicts the shutdown will cost the economy as much as $14bn in GDP, depending on how much longer it continues.
