The US government shutdown entered its fourth week Wednesday, becoming the second longest in history, as Donald Trump's Republicans and the opposition Democrats faced increasing pressure to end a stalemate that has crippled public services.

Federal workers are set to miss their first full paychecks in the coming days, including tens of thousands of air traffic controllers and airport security agents -- an inflection point that helped end the last shutdown in 2019.

But with the current crisis entering Day 22, the bipartisan backbench groups in Congress who have struck deals behind the scenes to end past standoffs have hardly been talking, and there was no off-ramp in sight.

"This is now the second-longest government shutdown of any kind ever in the history of our country, and it's just s

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