This Shutdown Could Set a Record

The government shutdown entered day 14 Friday, moving it closer to record-setting territory. Given that no solution is in sight, the impasse has a shot of breaking the record of 21 days set in 1995, reports Axios, which notes it's currently the 4th-longest shutdown we've experienced. Not that there isn't movement: The newly sworn-in Democratic majority in the House passed two bills Thursday night to reopen the government, but both appear to be dead in the water, reports the Hill. Not only did the White House threaten a veto—the bills provide no money for President Trump's border wall—but the Senate won't even consider them. "The Senate will not take up any proposal that does not have a real chance of passing this chamber and getting a presidential signature," said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, per Politico. "Let’s not waste the time."

New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was similarly defiant: "We're not doing a wall. Does anybody have any doubt that we are not doing a wall? So that's that," she said Thursday. The New York Times notes that McConnell is now facing pressure from within his own ranks to end the shutdown, even without an agreement on a border wall. GOP Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado became the first Republican senator on Thursday to call for that, and a second vulnerable Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, later echoed the sentiment. "I think we should pass a continuing resolution to get the government back open," said Gardner. Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer will be back at the White House Friday morning for another meeting with the president and congressional GOP leaders. (More government shutdown stories.)