US Politics
What is the longest government shutdown in US history?
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Hundreds of thousands of U.S. federal employees halted work on October 1, when the government shut down due to a budget impasse in Congress.
The 2025 shutdown has stretched into a third week and U.S. leaders warned it could become the longest in history.
Following are the longest government shutdowns since 1980, when U.S. administrations started furloughing some federal workers as budgets expired.
2018-2019 – 35 days
The longest shutdown on record started December 22, 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House.
Democrats in Congress refused to back a spending bill that included Trump’s $5.7 billion request for fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawmakers eventually approved a spending bill without border wall money that Trump signed into law on January 25, 2019, ending the shutdown.
1995-1996 – 22 days
The government partially shut down on December 16, 1995, as part of a clash between the Republican-controlled Congress and then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, over how to balance the budget.
Clinton signed a bill to re-open the government on January 6, 1996. Some polls showed the public largely blamed Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, and some analysts said the spat helped Clinton win reelection in 1996.
2025 – 16 days
The shutdown currently under way is now tied for the third-longest. Democrats have blocked spending legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress, saying that any funding package must also expand COVID pandemic-era healthcare subsidies due to expire at the end of December.
Republicans say that issue should be dealt with separately.
2013 – 16 days
Government workers started furloughs on October 1, 2013, after Republicans demanded cuts or delays to a healthcare law championed by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat.
The shutdown was part of a broader impasse over the national debt, with the government at risk of defaulting on its obligations without congressional authorization for further borrowing. Obama signed a bill re-opening the government shortly after midnight on October 17, 2013, with legislation that also authorized more borrowing.
1995 – 6 days
In a prelude to the longer shutdown at the close of 1995, government workers started furloughs on November 14, 1995, after Clinton vetoed a spending bill backed by Republicans.
Washington reached a deal November 19, 1995, to re-open the government, but another shutdown was only weeks away.
1990 – 3 days
Republican President George H. W. Bush vetoed a spending bill over a fight on how to reduce deficits, leading to a partial shutdown on October 6, 1990, that closed national parks and other landmarks.
Lawmakers passed a measure to re-open the government in the early hours of October 9, 1990.
2018 – 3 days
Democrats in the Republican-controlled Congress blocked a spending bill, triggering a shutdown on January 20, 2018, partly as a way to shield from deportation immigrants who entered the country without authorization as children.
Congress approved a bill ending the shutdown on January 22, 2018, without addressing the fate of the young undocumented immigrants.
