US government shutdown officially becomes longest ever
The partial government shutdown became the longest closure in US history when the clock ticked past midnight Friday as President Donald Trump and nervous Republicans scrambled to find a way out of the mess.
A solution couldn't come soon enough for federal workers who got pay statements Friday but no pay.
The House and Senate voted to give federal workers back pay whenever the federal government reopens and then left town for the weekend, leaving the shutdown on track to become one for the record books once the clock struck midnight and the closure entered its 22nd day.
And while Trump privately considered one dramatic escape route -- declaring a national emergency to build the wall without a new stream of cash from Congress -- members of his own party were fiercely debating that idea, and the president urged Congress to come up with another solution.
