“The shortest and longest government shutdowns in U.S. history”, The Washington Post
Kevin Schaul and Kevin Uhrmacher, September 21, 2023
The government is hurtling towards a shutdown if Congress cannot agree on funding past Sept. 30. It would be the first shutdown since late December 2018, when most government activity came to a halt for 34 days, the longest one in the modern era.
While government shutdowns have become rarer, they now typically stretch on longer as parties dig in.
There were substantial federal funding gaps in the late 1970s, including a 17-day long gap beginning Sept. 30, 1978, but gaps were taken less seriously before legal opinions by then-Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti said most government work had to cease until funded by Congress.
Longest funding gaps under current shutdown rules
Number of days each shutdown lasted
Dec. 2018
34
Dec. 1995
21
Sept. 2013
16
Nov. 1995
5
Jan. 2018
3
Oct. 1990
3
Nov. 1983
3
Dec. 1982
3
The guidelines that a funding gap should lead to a government shutdown emerged in the early 1980s, and short federal funding gaps were common in that decade.
The shortest shutdown, however, occurred in February 2018 — just ten months before the longest. Sen. Rand Paul briefly filibustered a two-year bipartisan spending bill over its cost causing a lapse in federal funding that lasted several hours.
Shutdowns that spanned two separate years are counted in the year they started.
Some shutdowns were resolved in a matter of days as negotiators worked out a deal to reopen the government. Other funding gaps lasted such a short time, such as overnight or on weekends, that government agencies did not fully shut down.
Why shutdowns happened — and how they ended
| START | DAYS | CONTROL | WHY | RESOLVED |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec. 21, 2018 | 34 | Trump Senate House* *Flipped in 2019 | Trump wanted funding for the border wall, but Democrats, who took control of the House during the shutdown, wanted to fund the government temporarily with no strings attached. | Congress passed a three-week continuing resolution to reopen the government while debate on a border wall continued. |
| Feb. 8, 2018 | 0 | Trump Senate House | Sen. Rand Paul briefly filibustered a two-year bipartisan spending bill over its cost. Democrats wanted a solution for “dreamers,” immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children. | After the time for debate expired, Congress voted overnight to increase domestic and military spending caps and to fund the government. No deal was made for “dreamers.” |
| Jan. 19, 2018 | 2 | Trump Senate House | Democrats wanted protections for “dreamers,” but Republicans refused to negotiate on immigration until government funding was passed. | Senate Democrats bowed to pressure to reopen the government when Republicans committed to hold a vote resolving the status of “dreamers” by mid-February. |
| Sept. 30, 2013 | 16 | Obama Senate House | Hard-line conservatives pushed GOP leaders to use a shutdown threat to block parts of Obamacare. | Republicans relented by overwhelmingly passing a bill to fund the government without any major health-care provisions. |
| Dec. 15, 1995 | 21 | Clinton Senate House | President Bill Clinton and the GOP disagreed on how to balance the budget within seven years, with Clinton using more optimistic Office of Management and Budget projections, and Republicans using Congressional Budget Office estimates. | Senate Republicans gave in to pressure to reopen the government, and the party temporarily abandoned their goal of enacting a seven-year balanced budget plan. |
| Nov. 13, 1995 | 5 | Clinton Senate House | Clinton vetoed legislation that would have raised Medicare premiums and required him to submit a seven-year balanced-budget plan, triggering the shutdown. | Clinton and Republicans agreed to a temporary measure to fund the government and to produce a seven-year balanced budget. |
| Oct. 5, 1990 | 3 | Bush Senate House | President George H.W. Bush refused to sign legislation funding the government unless it included a deficit reduction plan. | Congress sent Bush a plan to reduce the deficit. |
| Dec. 18, 1987 | 1 | Reagan Senate House | President Ronald Reagan and Democrats could not agree on how to provide aid to Nicaraguan rebels and whether to enact into law the Fairness Doctrine requiring broadcasters to air different sides of controversial issues. | Congress approved providing the Nicaraguan rebels with nonlethal aid but not the Fairness Doctrine. |
| Oct. 16, 1986 | 1 | Reagan Senate House | Reagan and House Democrats disagreed on several issues that weren’t resolved before a shutdown took effect. | Democrats got a promise of a vote on welfare expansion but caved on most of their wishes, and Republicans offered a concession on the sale of the public-owned railway. |
| Oct. 3, 1984 | 1 | Reagan Senate House | A deal on several issues wasn’t reached in the time of a three-day funding extension. | Congress removed several measures from the bill according to Reagan’s wishes, kept his preferred crime funding and negotiated a settlement on funding the Nicaraguan Contras. |
| Sept. 30, 1984 | 2 | Reagan Senate House | Congress attached several measures to the funding bill, including a crime-fighting package, water projects funding and a civil rights measure. Reagan offered to sign a bill without those, but a deal wasn’t reached in time. | Congress passed a three-day funding extension to continue negotiations. |
| Nov. 10, 1983 | 3 | Reagan Senate House | House Democrats wanted nearly $1 billion in additional education funding and their foreign aid and defense spending did not align with Reagan’s priorities. | Democrats reduced the education spending and funded the MX missile that they had cut in the last shutdown fight. They got their foreign aid and defense cuts. |
| Dec. 17, 1982 | 3 | Reagan Senate House | Congressional leaders wanted to spend billions to create jobs, but Reagan opposed it. The Democratic House opposed funds for a nuclear missile program. | Congress abandoned plans for the jobs spending, but also funded legal support for poor Americans over the president’s wishes. Reagan signed it anyway. |
| Sept. 30, 1982 | 1 | Reagan Senate House | Congress hadn’t passed a new budget and lawmakers were attending social events the night of the deadline. | Lawmakers returned and passed spending bills late, which Reagan signed despite reservations about the cost. |
| Nov. 20, 1981 | 2 | Reagan Senate House | Reagan wanted billions in domestic spending cuts and promised to veto any bill that didn’t include them. Congress fell short of his goal, so he vetoed the bill and ordered a shutdown. | Congress passed a short-term funding deal to allow time to negotiate a longer-term solution. |
Kate Rabinowitz contributed to this report. Data from the Congressional Research Service and news reports.