Shutdown becomes longest federal closure in U.S. history

January 11, 2019 11:00 pm • Last Updated: January 11, 2019 11:44 pm

By By JONATHAN LEMIRE, LISA MASCARO and JILL COLVIN

President Donald Trump attends a roundtable discussion on border security with local leaders, Friday Jan. 11, 2019, in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government has entered Day 22 of a partial government shutdown, becoming the longest closure in U.S. history.

Nine of the 15 Cabinet-level departments have not been funded. The Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs, the government's largest agencies, are the most notable exceptions and continue to operate since they were funded through Sept. 30.

The previous record for the longest shutdown occurred during Bill Clinton's presidency. That one lasted from Dec. 15, 1995, through Jan. 6, 1996.

The current shutdown appears destined to last at least a few more days, Democratic lawmakers rejecting President Donald Trump's demands to include $5.7 billion for a border wall in a spending bill.

The shutdown has furloughed 380,000 federal workers and forced an additional 420,000 to work without pay.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks to reporters after signing a House-passed a bill requiring that all government workers receive retroactive pay after the partial shutdown ends, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. She is joined by, from left, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Rep. Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Rep. Don Beyer D-Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

David Pritchett, a furloughed worker for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, looks on as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., talks to reporters Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, in her office in Reno about the impacts of the partial government shutdown. Pritchett, a BLM planner in Reno, says the effects of the shutdown will have a ripple effect on federal land management long after the government fully reopens because of deadlines that were missed for federal permits on a whole range of projects, from gold mines to large recreational events. (AP Photo/Scott Sonner)

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