Former President Donald Trump presided over the longest federal government shutdown in US history in 2018-2019.
Former President Donald Trump and several Republicans in Congress are pushing to force a federal government shutdown this fall unless Democrats agree to legislation that would make it harder to vote. During his term in office, Trump presided over the longest partial shutdown in U.S. history; it lasted 34 days, between Dec. 22, 2018 and Jan. 25, 2019.
Funding for the federal government is set to expire Sept. 30. Trump has been pushing GOP lawmakers to refuse to extend funding past that time, NBC News reported on Sept. 4, unless the Democratic-led Senate simultaneously approves the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, a Republican-backed bill that would require citizens to provide specific forms of identification to prove their eligibility to vote and would increase voter roll purges.
“I would shut down the government in a heartbeat if they don’t get it,” Trump told right-wing podcaster Monica Crowley on Aug. 29, also suggesting that Republicans should demand border security measures. “If you can’t get the borders right and if you can’t get the elections right, you ought to close it up. Just close it up and let it sit.”
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy, the bill’s sponsor, claims it is needed to curb noncitizen voting, which is already illegal and statistically almost nonexistent.
Michael Waldbaum, the president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law, told Congress in May that the bill would undermine election integrity by making it impossible for about 13 million U.S. citizens to participate in elections, especially women who changed their names when they got married. “This would impose stringent restrictions and steep costs for little benefit,” Waldbaum warned.
Over the past several decades, House Republicans have repeatedly attempted to use government shutdowns for leverage to force Democratic administrations to accept GOP policy priorities.
Shutdowns also do significant damage to the economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in January 2019 that the shutdown under Trump lowered that quarter’s real GDP by about $8 billion.
Even some Republicans say the strategy is flawed. According to Axios, aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are warning that trying to attach the SAVE Act to the stopgap bill might backfire and could open the door for Democrats to attach other measures.
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