US President Donald Trump signed a stopgap bill on Wednesday to end the longest shutdown of the US government in history.

A “shutdown” essentially means that the US government and all its agencies have no money to spend. That, in turn, results in crippling the economy as many government services halt to a grind.

Since the current budget process was instituted in 1976, the US government has been shut down 11 times, according to the US Office of the Historian; the recent shutdown, which went on for 43 days, was by far the longest ahead of the 34-day shutdown in 2018-19, during Trump’s last term.

What is a shutdown?

Any government gets its money by essentially taxing people. But in a democracy a government must seek the permission to tax people from their representatives. A shutdown doe

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