(NEXSTAR) – The federal government shutdown, which began Wednesday, marks the 21st such closure in 50 years. Most of those shutdowns have lasted less than a week, but the longest in U.S. history was over a month long.

It wasn't that long ago when the record was broken. It was actually the most recent federal government shutdown in late 2018 and early 2019 that endured for 35 days, easily becoming the longest our country had seen.

The shutdown was triggered in President Donald Trump's first term, when the president demanded money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to negotiate on the issue unless the government was allowed to reopen. Democrats had won the House majority in the 2018 election and took power in the middle of the partial shutdown.

As the s

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