Erik Wasson

Democrats entered the shutdown seeking to renew tax credits to stave off insurance premium price hikes and to show voters they have the stomach for hardball negotiations in President Donald Trump’s Washington.

President Donald Trump on Monday expressed support for the bipartisan deal to end the US shutdown, a key development that makes it likely the government reopens within days.

Congress showed momentary signs of life in the nation’s longest government showdown, but the hope for a post-election compromise faded quickly, with frustrated senators apparently no closer to an escape plan.

Senate Republicans on Friday rejected Democrats’ offer to scale back their shutdown demands to a one-year extension of expiring health care subsidies, prolonging a stalemate that has disrupted air travel and delayed food aid.

The US Congressional Budget Office, which provides analysis on the budgetary impact of legislation, confirmed Thursday that its systems were hacked.

Government shutdowns have become a recurring feature of US politics, the product of partisan standoffs over spending that force federal agencies to halt a wide range of services. The latest shutdown — the third under President Donald Trump across his two terms — began at midnight on Oct. 1, when Congress failed to pass a stopgap funding measure, triggering the nation’s first government closure in almost seven years. On Nov. 5, it entered its 36th day, making it the longest shutdown in history.

House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed Donald Trump’s repeated talk of possibly running for another presidential term, saying the US Constitution’s two-term limit would block him from such a bid.

Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday he expects the Trump administration to pay military personnel on Friday, even as the government shutdown shows no end in sight.

Twenty-eight days after the government shutdown began, lawmakers keep repeating the same votes.

Democrats and Republicans both see their messages winning.