{"id":14839,"date":"2023-09-22T01:44:36","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T08:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14839"},"modified":"2023-09-25T01:55:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T08:55:17","slug":"the-shortest-and-longest-government-shutdowns-in-u-s-history-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=14839","title":{"rendered":"“The shortest and longest government shutdowns in U.S. history”, The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kevin Schaul\u00a0and\u00a0Kevin Uhrmacher, September 21, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government is hurtling towards a shutdown<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While government shutdowns have become rarer, they now typically stretch on longer as parties dig in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longest funding gaps under current shutdown rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Number of days each shutdown lasted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec. 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

34<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec. 1995<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sept. 2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 1995<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan. 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct. 1990<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov. 1983<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec. 1982<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shortest shutdown, however, occurred in February 2018 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shutdowns that spanned two separate years are counted in the year they started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why shutdowns happened \u2014 and how they ended<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
START<\/strong><\/th>DAYS<\/strong><\/th>CONTROL<\/strong><\/th>WHY<\/strong><\/th>RESOLVED<\/strong><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Dec. 21, 2018<\/th>34<\/td>Trump
Senate
  House* 
*Flipped in 2019<\/td>		Trump wanted funding for the border wall<\/strong>, but Democrats, who took control of the House during the shutdown, wanted to fund the government temporarily with no strings attached.<\/td>Congress passed a three-week continuing resolution to reopen the government while debate on a border wall continued.<\/td><\/tr>
Feb. 8, 2018<\/th>0<\/td>Trump
Senate
House<\/td>		Sen. Rand Paul briefly filibustered a two-year bipartisan spending bill over its cost<\/strong>. Democrats wanted a solution for \u201cdreamers,\u201d immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.<\/td>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 \u201cdreamers.\u201d<\/td><\/tr>
Jan. 19, 2018<\/th>2<\/td>Trump
Senate
House<\/td>		Democrats wanted protections for \u201cdreamers,\u201d<\/strong> but Republicans refused to negotiate on immigration until government funding was passed.<\/td>Senate Democrats bowed to pressure to reopen the government when Republicans committed to hold a vote resolving the status of \u201cdreamers\u201d by mid-February.<\/td><\/tr>
Sept. 30, 2013<\/th>16<\/td>Obama
Senate
House<\/td>		Hard-line conservatives pushed GOP leaders to use a shutdown threat to block parts of Obamacare.<\/strong><\/td>Republicans relented by overwhelmingly passing a bill to fund the government without any major health-care provisions.<\/td><\/tr>
Dec. 15, 1995<\/th>21<\/td>Clinton
Senate
House<\/td>		President Bill Clinton and the GOP disagreed on how to balance the budget<\/strong> within seven years, with Clinton using more optimistic Office of Management and Budget projections, and Republicans using Congressional Budget Office estimates.<\/td>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.<\/td><\/tr>
Nov. 13, 1995<\/th>5<\/td>Clinton
Senate
House<\/td>		Clinton vetoed legislation that would have raised Medicare premiums<\/strong> and required him to submit a seven-year balanced-budget plan<\/strong>, triggering the shutdown.<\/td>Clinton and Republicans agreed to a temporary measure to fund the government and to produce a seven-year balanced budget.<\/td><\/tr>
Oct. 5, 1990<\/th>3<\/td>Bush
Senate
House<\/td>		President George H.W. Bush refused to sign legislation funding the government unless it included a deficit reduction plan<\/strong>.<\/td>Congress sent Bush a plan to reduce the deficit.<\/td><\/tr>
Dec. 18, 1987<\/th>1<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		President Ronald Reagan and Democrats could not agree on how to provide aid to Nicaraguan rebels<\/strong> and whether to enact into law the Fairness Doctrine<\/strong> requiring broadcasters to air different sides of controversial issues.<\/td>Congress approved providing the Nicaraguan rebels with nonlethal aid but not the Fairness Doctrine.<\/td><\/tr>
Oct. 16, 1986<\/th>1<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		Reagan and House Democrats disagreed on several issues<\/strong> that weren\u2019t resolved before a shutdown took effect.<\/td>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.<\/td><\/tr>
Oct. 3, 1984<\/th>1<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		A deal on several issues<\/strong> wasn\u2019t reached in the time of a three-day funding extension.<\/td>Congress removed several measures from the bill according to Reagan\u2019s wishes, kept his preferred crime funding and negotiated a settlement on funding the Nicaraguan Contras.<\/td><\/tr>
Sept. 30, 1984<\/th>2<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		Congress attached several measures to the funding bill, including a crime-fighting package<\/strong>, water projects funding<\/strong> and a civil rights measure<\/strong>. Reagan offered to sign a bill without those, but a deal wasn’t reached in time.<\/td>Congress passed a three-day funding extension to continue negotiations.<\/td><\/tr>
Nov. 10, 1983<\/th>3<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		House Democrats wanted nearly $1 billion in additional education funding <\/strong>and their foreign aid and defense<\/strong> spending did not align with Reagan\u2019s priorities.<\/td>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.<\/td><\/tr>
Dec. 17, 1982<\/th>3<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		Congressional leaders wanted to spend billions to create jobs<\/strong>, but Reagan opposed it. The Democratic House opposed funds for a nuclear missile program<\/strong>.<\/td>Congress abandoned plans for the jobs spending, but also funded legal support for poor Americans over the president\u2019s wishes. Reagan signed it anyway.<\/td><\/tr>
Sept. 30, 1982<\/th>1<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		Congress hadn\u2019t passed a new budget and lawmakers were attending social events the night of the deadline.<\/td>Lawmakers returned and passed spending bills late, which Reagan signed despite reservations about the cost.<\/td><\/tr>
Nov. 20, 1981<\/th>2<\/td>Reagan
Senate
House<\/td>		Reagan wanted billions in domestic spending cuts<\/strong> 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.<\/td>Congress passed a short-term funding deal to allow time to negotiate a longer-term solution.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kate Rabinowitz contributed to this report. Data from the\u00a0<\/em>Congressional Research Service<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and news reports.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kevin Schaul\u00a0and\u00a0Kevin 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14840,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions\/14840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}