House speaker says current shutdown could become longest in U.S. history

Johnson said talks with the Democratic Party would only be possible once they back off their healthcare-related demands and agree to reopen the government.

“We are approaching one of the longest shutdowns in American history,” he said.

The speaker also claimed he had no information about the specifics of mass layoffs of federal employees carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration.

In the meantime, the House of Representatives remains at a standstill, as the Republican speaker continues to refuse to reconvene lawmakers in Washington.

The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is the country’s first in seven years. Federal agencies ground to a halt after Congress and the White House failed to reach a deal on funding.

The Senate rejected a short-term bill that would have kept the government running through Nov. 21. Democrats opposed the measure because Republicans refused to include an extension of healthcare benefits for 24 million Americans. Republicans argued that the issue should be handled separately — a sticking point that derailed agreement on the $1.7 trillion budget plan, which would have covered a quarter of federal spending.

As a result, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been placed on unpaid leave, parts of the social safety net are frozen, and operations at several government departments are paralyzed.