2019 Government Shutdown
In December 2018, amid a stalemate about border wall funding, Congress failed to enact a new budget, leading to the longest government shutdown in history.
In February 2019, after the longest government shutdown in history (35 days), Congress reached a deal with President Trump, offering $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fencing along the Rio Grande Valley. The President expressed his dissatisfaction with the offer, and shortly after signing the bill, declared a national emergency to fund his border wall through other means. In addition to the $1.375 billion already allocated for fencing, he announced his intent to pull $600 million from the Treasury Department’s Drug Forfeiture Fund, $2.5 billion from the Department of Defense’s Drug Interdiction program, and $3.6 billion from the Department of Defense’s military construction account. An additional $1.5 billion in Department of Defense funds were transferred in May 2019.
