TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United States emerged from a record 43-day government shutdown on Wednesday, November 12, ending a lapse in federal funding that began on October 1 after President Trump and congressional Republicans failed to reach a deal.
According to CBS News, mounting pressure from looming Thanksgiving travel disruptions and the threat to SNAP benefits pushed seven Democrats and one independent to negotiate a bipartisan agreement with Republicans.
The House advanced the spending measure on Wednesday, and Trump signed it that night, officially bringing the shutdown to a close. Its impact reportedly affected 1.4 million federal workers who went weeks without pay, low-income families saw food assistance jeopardized, and thousands of flights were delayed or canceled.
To better understand how this crisis fits into a broader pattern of political brinkmanship, learn more about some of the longest U.S. government shutdowns after 1980 and the reasons behind them below, as cited from CBS News, BBC, and USA Facts.
List of US Government Shutdowns
1. December 17, 1982 (3 days)
The 1982 U.S. government shutdown stemmed from a bitter standoff between President Reagan and Congress, as lawmakers pushed to fund public works projects to create jobs while Reagan insisted on financing the MX and Pershing II missile programs.
In the end, Congress abandoned the jobs initiative and refused to support the missile funding, leaving both priorities on the cutting-room floor. Despite the impasse, Reagan ultimately signed the spending bill that ended the shutdown, even though it satisfied neither side’s original demands.
Notably, the final legislation expanded funding for the Legal Services Corporation, an aid program for low-income Americans that Reagan had previously sought to eliminate.
White House: President Ronald Reagan
2. November 13, 1995 (5 days)
The U.S. government shutdowns during President Clinton’s tenure were fueled by a fierce clash with newly empowered congressional Republicans, who swept into the House in 1995 under Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Republican Revolution.”
Determined to balance the budget and roll back Clinton’s 1993 tax increases, the GOP passed a short-term spending bill that raised Medicare premiums and demanded a balanced budget within seven years, provisions Clinton swiftly vetoed, which then triggered the first shutdown.
That initial standoff lasted five days and ended when Clinton agreed to a seven-year balanced-budget framework, allowing negotiations to continue.
White House: President Bill Clinton
3. December 15, 1995 (21 days)
The second shutdown of the Clinton era began in mid-December 1995 and dragged into early January 1996, furloughing federal workers without pay and shuttering national parks, monuments, and museums. Essential public services ground to a halt, with passport processing suspended and as many as 30,000 visa applications left unprocessed each day, while veterans faced reduced support.
The impasse stemmed from a dispute over whether to use budget projections from the Congressional Budget Office or the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to prove the federal budget would balance within seven years.
White House: President Bill Clinton
4. September 30, 2013 (16 days)
On September 30, 2013, the U.S. government ground to a halt as non-essential services shuttered at midnight, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers on unpaid leave. The shutdown unfolded at the close of the fiscal year, after lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to pass either a new budget or even a temporary funding measure to keep the government running.
At the heart of the impasse was a fierce Republican effort to weaken the Affordable Care Act, with the GOP-led House tying funding bills to delays in President Obama’s signature health reform, provisions flatly rejected by the Democratic-controlled Senate. Ultimately, Republicans relented, and Speaker John Boehner allowed a short-term spending bill to pass without any changes to Obamacare.
White House: President Barack Obama
5. December 22, 2018 (35 days)
Late into 2018, the government was once again thrust into crisis as immigration took center stage, this time over President Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The standoff dragged on to become one of the longest shutdowns in U.S. history at the time, only ending when newly empowered House Democrats forced Trump to sign a bill reopening federal agencies for three weeks, with no wall funding included.
Weeks later, Congress narrowly avoided another lapse in funding by approving just $1.375 billion for border barriers.
White House: President Donald Trump
6. October 1, 2025 (43 days)
The shutdown erupted after Democrats refused to back any funding bill that excluded an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which were set to expire and drive up premiums for millions of Americans.
Although the GOP-controlled House passed a temporary spending measure on September 19, Republicans lacked the 60 Senate votes needed to advance the legislation as most Democrats and one Republican senator blocked it, triggering a shutdown on October 1.
For more than 40 days, Republicans repeatedly brought the measure to the Senate floor. But it wasn’t until November 9 that five additional Democrats agreed to support it after securing a promise of a future vote on extending the ACA credits and protections against further federal workforce cuts.
With those votes, the bill finally cleared the Senate, returned to the House, and was signed by President Trump on November 12, ending the longest U.S. government shutdown in history.
White House: President Donald Trump
History shows that U.S. government shutdowns reveal a recurring pattern of political stalemates that often cost citizens far more than the lawmakers responsible. By understanding the forces behind each shutdown, you can gain a clearer view of the nation’s long-running struggles over policy and spending.
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