The government shutdown is on the verge of becoming the longest in US history — and lawmakers still have no idea how much longer it will go.

In Washington, senators left town for the weekend deadlocked and more frustrated than ever, while critical safety net programs could soon lose federal funding for the first time.

Two federal judges said Friday that the Trump administration must tap into billions of dollars in emergency funds to at least partially cover food stamp benefits for the month of November. President Donald Trump said later Friday he’d instructed administration lawyers to ask the courts how it can legally fund the benefits, adding that if “given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding, just like I did with Military and Law Enforcement Pay.”

But he noted that even immediate guidance from the courts would result in delayed benefits for food stamp recipients — which could still only be a partial and short-term fix. Tens of millions of Americans are still bracing for a crisis that will leave them without the government assistance they need to eat, heat their homes or take care of their kids while they work.

And after a week abroad, Trump announced his return with a missive that threatens to further complicate the path out of the shutdown: calling for eliminating the Senate filibuster in a “nuclear” move that even his closest congressional allies worry would on