White House.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The US government shutdown hit its 36th day on Wednesday, becoming the longest in history and breaking a record set in 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term in office.
Following are the longest shutdowns since 1980, when US administrations started furloughing some federal workers as budgets expired.
2025 - 36 days and counting
The shutdown currently underway is now the longest in history. Democrats have blocked spending legislation in the Republican-controlled Congress, saying that any funding package must also expand COVID pandemic-era healthcare subsidies due to expire at the end of December. Republicans say that issue should be dealt with separately.
2018-2019 - 35 days
The second-longest shutdown on record started on December 22, 2018, when Democrats in Congress refused to back a spending bill that included Trump's $5.7 billion request for fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border. Lawmakers eventually approved a spending bill without border wall money that Trump signed into law on January 25, 2019, ending the shutdown.
1995-1996 - 22 days
The government partially shut down on December 16, 1995, as part of a clash between the Republican-controlled Congress and then-President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, over how to balance the budget. Clinton signed a bill to re-open the government on January 6, 1996. Some polls showed the public largely blamed Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, and some analysts said the spat helped Clinton win reelection in 1996.
2013 - 16 days
Government workers started furloughs on October 1, 2013, after Republicans demanded cuts or delays to a healthcare 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 further borrowing. Obama signed a bill re-opening the government shortly after midnight on October 17, 2013, with legislation that also authorized more borrowing.
1995 - 6 days
In a prelude to the longer shutdown at the close of 1995, government workers started furloughs on November 14, 1995, after Clinton vetoed a spending bill backed by Republicans. Washington reached a deal November 19, 1995, to re-open the government, but another shutdown was only weeks away.
1990 - 3 days
Republican President George H. W. Bush vetoed a spending bill over a fight on how to reduce deficits, leading to a partial shutdown on October 6, 1990, that closed national parks and other landmarks. Lawmakers passed a measure to re-open the government in the early hours of October 9, 1990.
2018 - 3 days
Democrats in the Republican-controlled Congress blocked a spending bill, triggering a shutdown on January 20, 2018, partly as a way to shield from deportation immigrants who entered the country without authorization as children. Congress approved a bill ending the shutdown on January 22, 2018, without addressing the fate of the young undocumented immigrants.