There appears to be no end in sight to the current government shutdown, with Democrats and Republicans still far from striking a federal spending deal nearly a month into fiscal year (FY) 2026.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed and thousands have been laid off. Certain federal services have also paused due to lack of funding.<\/p>\n
It is not the first time such a standoff has paused all or some government operations. Below is a list of the top five longest government shutdowns in U.S. history, and how they were resolved.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The longest government shutdown in history happened during the first Trump administration and lasted five weeks.<\/p>\n
Funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall was at the heart of that dispute. Trump had refused to sign a federal spending deal that did not include money for the project, and a standalone bill with $5.7 billion was blocked by a Senate Democrat-led filibuster.<\/p>\n
Trump eventually backed a short-term federal funding measure to reopen the government on Jan. 25, 2019, and a few weeks later, Congress approved $1.375 billion for 55 miles of border fencing between the U.S. and Mexico.<\/p>\n
It was a partial shutdown, meaning lawmakers managed to strike a deal on five of 12 appropriations bills before their clock ran out.<\/p>\n
The current government shutdown is now the second-longest in history, and the longest-ever full shutdown.<\/p>\n
That means Congress was unable to strike a federal funding deal on any appropriations bills before the end of FY 2025 on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
Republicans, who control the House and Senate, had offered a seven-week extension of FY 2025 spending levels to give lawmakers more time to hash out next fiscal year’s numbers. <\/p>\n
It passed the House on Sept. 19, with support from one Democrat, but has stalled in the Senate 12 separate times.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Democrats are demanding that any federal funding plan also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of this year without congressional action.<\/p>\n
As of the most recent tally, at least five more Senate Democrats are needed to overcome a filibuster and pass the measure in the Senate.<\/p>\n
Republican leaders have shown no signs of giving in, however, accusing Democrats of trying to jam an unrelated issue into the yearly funding process.<\/p>\n
The second of two government shutdowns under former President Bill Clinton lasted three weeks, breaking a record at the time for the longest shutdown in U.S. history.<\/p>\n
Republicans had taken control of both the House and Senate in the 1994 midterm elections, leading Clinton on a collision course with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.<\/p>\n
Gingrich pursued significant cuts to the federal budget after being emboldened by the 1994 red wave in the House following his ‘Contract with America.’<\/p>\n
Clinton, who also pushed for a balanced budget, disagreed with the spending cuts sought by Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n
That was also a partial shutdown, with the departments of energy, defense and agriculture among those funded before the impasse began.<\/p>\n
Republicans moved to end that shutdown amid mounting negative public polling for the GOP, NPR reported.<\/p>\n
The longest shutdown of former President Jimmy Carter’s four-year term in the White House lasted 18 days, at a time when Democrats controlled all levers of power in Washington.<\/p>\n
Carter had vetoed Congress’ bills on defense spending and public works that he thought wasted federal dollars, according to the Washington Post. That included funding for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that Carter opposed.<\/p>\n
There was also a dispute over abortion in the funding bill for the now-defunct Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.<\/p>\n
Congress wound up stripping the funding that Carter opposed from the defense and public works bills, while a compromise was reached on the latter issue.<\/p>\n
Much like the current standoff, the 2013 government shutdown also centered on Obamacare \u2014 also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).<\/p>\n
It is the second-longest full shutdown in history behind today’s. At the time, Republicans controlled the House while Democrats held the Senate.<\/p>\n
The GOP had insisted on spending bills that rolled back significant portions of Obamacare, then only about three years old.<\/p>\n
Senate Democrats rejected such measures passed by the Republican-controlled House, however.<\/p>\n
Congress eventually agreed to a short-term spending patch to end the shutdown, and Republicans relented on pushing funding bills with Obamacare cuts.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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