Article snippet: Funding lapsed for about a quarter of the federal government in late 2018, a few days before Christmas, as Democrats in the U.S. Senate blocked efforts by President Donald Trump to fund his planned border wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Republicans still controlled the House and passed a measure of their own to fund the president’s wall to the tune of more than $5 billion while keeping the government open. The Senate, which remains under GOP control, passed a different measure that would have funded the government but provided zero dollars for the wall. The impasse led to a shutdown of about a quarter of the federal government, with several key departments and agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the IRS, the Department of Transportation, and many others–with as many as 800,000 federal workers affected–closed except for essential services. The shutdown lasted through Christmas, through the New Years holiday, and into the beginning of 2019 when, on Jan. 3, the Democrats–who won a U.S. House majority in the midterm election–took over the House of Representatives. Democrats have passed measures aimed at reopening government but denying Trump his border wall, and now more than a week into the new Congress, the shutdown has reached the longest duration in the history of the country, with no end in sight. Trump remains dug in, his position being that Democrats should provide the votes to fund the border wall and other security measures,... Link to the full article to read more