WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thousands of U.S. federal employees stopped working on Oct. 1 as the government shut down due to a budget impasse in Congress.
The following are the longest shutdowns since 1980, when U.S. governments began laying off some federal employees as budgets expired.
2018-2019 – 35 dias
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The longest shutdown on record began on December 22, 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House. Democrats in Congress refused to support a spending bill that included Trump’s $5.7 billion request to fence the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawmakers ended up passing a cash-strapped spending bill for the border wall, which Trump signed into law on January 25, 2019, ending the shutdown.
1995-1996 – 22 dias
The government partially shut down on December 16, 1995, as part of a conflict between the Republican-controlled Congress and then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, over how to balance the budget. Clinton signed a bill to reopen the government on January 6, 1996. Some polls showed that the public largely blamed Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, and some analysts said the dispute helped Clinton win re-election in 1996.
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2025 – 16 dias
The shutdown currently underway is tied for the third longest. Democrats have blocked spending legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress, saying any funding package must also expand Covid pandemic-era health subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of December. Republicans say this issue should be addressed separately.
2013 – 16 dias
Government workers began being furloughed on Oct. 1, 2013, after Republicans demanded cuts or delays in a health care 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 new borrowing. Obama signed a bill reopening the government shortly after midnight on October 17, 2013, with legislation that also authorized more borrowing.
1995 – 6 dias
In a prelude to the longer shutdown in late 1995, government employees began being furloughed on November 14, 1995, after Clinton vetoed a Republican-supported spending bill. Washington reached an agreement on November 19, 1995, to reopen the government, but another shutdown was just weeks away.
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1990 – 3 dias
Republican President George H. W. Bush vetoed a spending bill over an argument over how to reduce deficits, leading to a partial shutdown on October 6, 1990, that closed national parks and other landmarks. Lawmakers approved a measure to reopen the government in the early hours of October 9, 1990.
2018 – 3 dias
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Democrats in the Republican-controlled Congress blocked a spending bill, triggering a shutdown on January 20, 2018, in part as a way to protect immigrants who entered the country without authorization as children from deportation. Congress passed a bill that ended the shutdown on January 22, 2018, without addressing the fate of young undocumented immigrants.
(Reporting by Jason Lange)
