WASHINGTON – The US government shutdown that has left 800,000 federalemployees without salaries as a result of President Donald Trump’s row withDemocrats over building a Mexico border wall entered a record 22nd daySaturday.
The Democrats’ refusal to approve $5.7 billion demanded by Trump for thewall project has paralyzed Washington, with the president retaliating byrefusing to sign off on budgets for swaths of government departmentsunrelated to the dispute.
As a result, workers as diverse as FBI agents, air traffic controllers andmuseum staff, did not receive paychecks Friday.
The partial shutdown of the government became the longest on record atmidnight Friday (0500 GMT Saturday), when it overtook the 21-day stretch in1995-1996, under president Bill Clinton.
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Trump on Friday backed off a series of previous threats to end the deadlockby declaring a national emergency and attempting to secure the fundswithout congressional approval.
“I’m not going to do it so fast,” he said at a White House meeting.
