House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) warned Monday that the ongoing government shutdown could break the record for the country’s longest shutdown, which occurred during President Donald Trump’s first term.
“We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” Johnson said in a press conference on Monday.
The longest U.S. government shutdown lasted for 35 days under Trump from December 2018 to January 2019. The second-longest shutdown occurred for 21 days during former President Bill Clinton’s administration from December 1995 to January 1996, and the third-longest shutdown occurred for 17 days under President Jimmy Carter from September to October 1978, NPR reported based on House data.
This time around, Tuesday will mark a full two weeks since Congress failed to pass a funding bill, leading to the current shutdown that began on Oct. 1. Many federal workers — with the exception of U.S. military members, which will receive paychecks Wednesday — will be forced to go without pay as the shutdown continues. Congress and Trump will continue to be paid throughout the shutdown.
Johnson added to the chorus of politicians playing the blame game.
“Before Democrats recklessly shut down the government, Republicans and Democrats were engaged in responsible, open, bipartisan negotiations on the appropriations process. Republicans are eager to return to the actual negotiating table to finish out full-year appropriations and do work on all the other matters before us. But we won’t negotiate in smoke-filled back rooms, and we won’t negotiate as hostages,” Johnson also said Monday.
Notably, though, the Trump administration blamed congressional Democrats for the shutdown through numerous federal workers’ autoreply emails, leading to a lawsuit from the American Federation of Government Employees.
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Trump has said he will fire “a lot” of “Democrat-oriented” federal workers as payback for the shutdown. However, it’s not clear how departments what choose what qualifies to Trump as “Democrat-oriented.”
So far, thousands of federal workers have been laid off. This, of course, comes after Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency implemented mass firings earlier this year.