US Shutdown Hits Record 35 Days As Senate Fails To Pass Bill For The 14th Time

The US Senate on Tuesday failed for the 14th time to advance a House-passed short-term government funding bill, ensuring that the federal shutdown will become the longest in American history.

The measure, backed by Republicans, would have kept government spending at current levels through November 21. However, the procedural motion to take up the bill, which required 60 votes to move forward, failed 54–44, extending the funding impasse to 35 days.

“We’re not asking for anything radical,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said. “Lowering people’s healthcare costs is the definition of common sense.”

As in earlier rounds, Democratic Senators Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, along with Independent Angus King

of Maine, voted to proceed with the bill. Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky opposed it, while Thom Tillis (R–N.C.) and Cory Booker (D–N.J.) were absent from the vote.

The government has been grinding to a halt since Congress failed to approve funding past September 30, and pain has been mounting as welfare programs — including aid that helps millions of Americans afford groceries — hang in limbo.

Sections Of US Airspace To Be Closed?

Some 1.4 million federal workers, from air traffic controllers to park wardens, have also been placed on enforced leave without pay or made to work for nothing.

The Trump administration sounded the alarm Tuesday over turmoil at airports nationwide if the shutdown drags into a sixth week, worsening staff shortages, snarling airport lines and closing down sections of airspace.

“So if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos… You will see mass flight delays,” Transport Secretary Sean Duffy told a news conference in Philadelphia.

“You’ll see mass cancelations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don’t have the air traffic controllers.”

Unlike the earlier shutdown during US President Donald Trump’s first term, when he fought Congress in 2018-19 for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall, the Republican has been largely absent from this shutdown debate.

However, he issued a fresh threat, warning he would halt SNAP food aid unless Democrats agree to reopen the government. That would be potentially in defiance of court orders to release the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program contingency funds.

Trump said on social media that SNAP benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government, which they can easily do, and not before!”