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2025 government shutdown there are a few hours left to break the record and become the longest in history.
The previous record was set during the 2018-19 government shutdown during President Donald Trump's first term. Trump signed legislation ending this closure at 9:00 pm on the 35th day.
Tuesday marks the 35th day of the current financial standoff. And with no agreement yet between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the dispute is almost certain to escalate into Day 36.
The previous closure stemmed from disagreements over funding for Trump's border wall. But this time, Democrats' priorities are in the middle.
THE SENATE BACKS TO BUSINESS AS GOVERNMENT CLOSURE NEARS LONGEST IN US HISTORY OVER OBAMACARE FIGHT
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks to the media next to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with top congressional leaders from both parties, shortly before a Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government and prevent a shutdown, at the White House in Washington, D.C., Sept. 29, 2025. (Kevin LaMarque/Reuters)
Republicans have been pushing for weeks for a short-term extension of federal funding levels for fiscal year (FY) 2025, called a continuing resolution (CR), that aims to give lawmakers until Nov. 21 to reach an agreement on spending for fiscal year 2026.
The measure is largely free of unrelated political factors, with the exception of an additional $88 million earmarked for increased security funding for lawmakers, the White House and the Supreme Court.
But Democrats have said they will reject any federal funding bill that does not extend expanded Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of 2025. The expanded subsidies were a COVID-19-era measure that most Republicans say is no longer needed.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-La., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said they were open to discussing a reformed version of these subsidies but declined to lump the two issues together.
House passed the CR September 19. Since then, Johnson has kept his chamber from sitting in an attempt to pressure Senate Democrats to agree to the GOP bill – although they have rejected it 13 times since then.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune holds a copy of the continuing resolution bill as he speaks with House Speaker Mike Johnson during a news conference in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol Building on October 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Senate Republicans throughout the shutdown have been looking for various markers as possible exit points for Senate Democrats, such as the nationwide “No Kings” protests, lack of paychecks for federal workers, the opening of open enrollment nationwide on Nov. 1, and now the impending record-breaking later Tuesday night.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., noted that both Tuesday's election and the record push “to protest the president” could influence how long Senate Democrats continue to drag out the shutdown.
TRUMP'S “NUCLEAR” DEMAND IS NOT PRESENT FOR SENATE REPUBLICANS UNDER SHUTDOWN
“Here’s the reality: Their approval rating is about 25% right now, and as one of their colleagues told me, the only way they can really move up is to show their supporters that they are fighting the president, and that’s what they’re doing right now,” Rounds said.
“So once they get to the point where they feel like they've made their point, then I think there's an opportunity to actually do something,” he continued.
There has been more optimism in the upper house over the past few days than there has been throughout the entire shutdown period as more and more bipartisan conversations emerge. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., believes lawmakers are close to going off track, but so far no concrete step has been taken to end the shutdown.
The US Capitol building at sunset on January 30, 2025. (Emma Woodhead/Fox News Digital)
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Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., still want a strong deal on expiring Obamacare subsidies and want Trump to become more involved. That desire, despite optimism, will likely cause the House-approved CR to fail for the 14th time on Tuesday morning.
When Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) was asked whether breaking the record would give more weight to lawmakers' decision to end the shutdown, he said it would require an outside force.
“I don’t understand what this is,” he said. “It will take some kind of external tipping point or the best negotiator in the world will come in.”
Meanwhile, funding for critical government programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, and National Flood Insurance are critically depleted, potentially trapping millions of Americans.
