From food aid to air travel chaos: Longest US government shutdown in history causes unprecedented disruptions

Republicans and Democrats in Congress continue to blame each other for the standoff.

As the US government shutdown reached 38th day following 14 failed attempts to get Democrats to support a House-approved bill without extension of healthcare subsidies, the country is facing unprecedented disruptions.

The shutdown, which began on October 1, is already the longest in US history. The previous government shutdown record happened during Donald Trump's first term as president and lasted 35 days before it ended in 2019.

Democrats and Republicans have remained gridlocked for weeks without any signs of a compromise - though some glimmers of hope are beginning to show.

In the weeks since this shutdown started, the impacts on everyday Americans has worsened. Thousands of federal workers have already missed paycheques, and there are growing fears of increased impacts to air travel across the US as air traffic controllers and airport staff work without pay. About 800 US-linked flights had been canceled as of Friday morning, according to the tracking website FlightAware.

The impacts have also been felt by low-income Americans who rely on government services. One in eight people in the US are dependent on food assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) but only a portion of that assistance is being paid out this month due to lapsed funding. Donald Trump’s White House attempted to pause payments under the government’s food aid program for the first time in history, but has been blocked by a court order.

Though Republicans control both chambers of Congress, any spending legislation needs at least some bipartisan support to clear the 60-vote threshold for advancement in the Senate. The Senate majority leader, John Thune, has tried 14 times to get Democrats to support a House-approved bill to continue funding through 21 November, but so far only three minority lawmakers have voted for it, according to a report by The Guardian.

Democrats, on the other hand, are insisting that any funding bill include an extension of tax credits that lower premiums for enrollees of Affordable Care Act health plans. The credits, which were enacted during Joe Biden’s presidency, expire at the end of the year, and people on those plans are expected to soon see their costs jump by an average of 26%, the Kaiser Family Foundation found.

Democrats’ resolve to hold strong against the Republican funding proposal was boosted on Tuesday when the party’s candidates swept off-year elections in a number of states, which party leaders attributed to voters being on board with their demands.

“Americans plagued by high costs fired a political torpedo this week at Donald Trump and Republicans,” the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said on Thursday, The Guardian reported.