Dates of Every Government Shutdown in U.S. History

The United States has recorded more than 20 federal funding gaps since 1976, and the dates of every government shutdown in U.S. history range from single-day lapses to the 43-day closure that ended November 12, 2025, the longest on record. The list below covers each gap from fiscal year 1977 forward, with the shutdowns that reshaped the modern process explained in more detail afterward.

Every Federal Funding Gap Since 1976

Gaps marked “Full” affected the entire federal government. Gaps marked “Partial” affected only agencies whose specific appropriations had lapsed. Early gaps caused little visible disruption because agencies kept working through them; that changed after 1981.¹

FY 1977 (Partial): September 30 – October 11, 1976 (10 days)
FY 1978 (Partial): September 30 – October 13, 1977 (12 days)
FY 1978 (Partial): October 31 – November 9, 1977 (8 days)
FY 1978 (Partial): November 30 – December 9, 1977 (8 days)
FY 1979 (Partial): September 30 – October 18, 1978 (17 days)
FY 1980 (Partial): September 30 – October 12, 1979 (11 days)
FY 1982 (Partial): November 20 – November 23, 1981 (2 days)
FY 1983 (Partial): September 30 – October 2, 1982 (1 day)
FY 1983 (Partial): December 17 – December 21, 1982 (3 days)
FY 1984 (Partial): November 10 – November 14, 1983 (3 days)
FY 1985 (Partial): September 30 – October 3, 1984 (2 days)
FY 1985 (Partial): October 3 – October 5, 1984 (1 day)
FY 1987 (Full): October 16 – October 18, 1986 (1 day)
FY 1988 (Partial): December 18 – December 20, 1987 (1 day)
FY 1990 (Full): October 5 – October 9, 1990 (3 days)
FY 1996 (Partial): November 14 – November 19, 1995 (5 days)
FY 1996 (Partial): December 16, 1995 – January 6, 1996 (21 days)
FY 2014 (Full): October 1 – October 17, 2013 (16 days)
FY 2018 (Full): January 20 – January 22, 2018 (2 days)
FY 2019 (Partial): December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019 (35 days)
FY 2026 (Full): October 1 – November 12, 2025 (43 days)
FY 2026 (Partial): February 1 – February 3, 2026 (3 days)

Why the Pre-1981 Gaps Look Different

Six of the earliest lapses on the list, all under President Carter, involved little of what people now picture during a shutdown. Agencies kept operating. Employees kept working. The reason was a loose reading of the Antideficiency Act, which was originally enacted after the Civil War and updated in 1950 to bar federal officials from spending money or creating financial obligations without an appropriation.²

That changed after Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti issued two legal opinions in 1980 and 1981. The 1981 opinion held that when appropriations lapse, agencies may continue only functions with “a reasonable and articulable connection” to protecting human life or property, or those carrying out specific presidential constitutional powers.³ Every shutdown after 1981 on the list above operated under that stricter framework.

The mechanics behind the dates are straightforward. The federal fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30.⁴ Congress is supposed to pass 12 spending bills each year. When it does not, it usually passes a Continuing Resolution to keep funding flowing at existing levels. A shutdown begins whenever a deadline passes with neither full-year appropriations nor a stopgap in place. That is why so many of the dates on the list start on October 1, or on the day a Continuing Resolution expired.

The Shutdowns Most People Remember

November 1995 and December 1995 to January 1996

The first prolonged modern shutdown came in two waves. A five-day partial shutdown ran from November 14 to November 19, 1995. It was followed by a 21-day partial shutdown from December 16, 1995, through January 6, 1996. The dispute pitted President Clinton against the Republican-controlled Congress over Medicare spending, tax cuts, and the pace of deficit reduction.¹ The 21-day closure was the longest on record at the time.

October 2013

A 16-day full shutdown ran from October 1 through October 17, 2013. House Republicans demanded that any spending bill strip funding from the Affordable Care Act, and Senate Democrats refused.¹ About 850,000 federal employees were furloughed at the peak. The Continuing Resolution that ended the shutdown made no changes to the health care law.

January 2018, and December 2018 to January 2019

A two-day full shutdown occurred January 20–22, 2018, over immigration policy and spending caps, followed by a brief technical lapse in February 2018.⁵ Then, on December 22, 2018, a partial shutdown began after President Trump insisted on $5.7 billion for a barrier along the southern border. It lasted 35 days, ending January 25, 2019, without the requested funding. At the time it was the longest shutdown in U.S. history.¹

October 2025 to November 2025

The 35-day record did not stand long. A full shutdown began October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass any of the 12 spending bills or a Continuing Resolution for fiscal year 2026. It lasted 43 days and ended November 12, 2025, when President Trump signed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2026, into law.⁶ A shorter partial lapse followed from February 1 to February 3, 2026.¹

Programs That Kept Running Through Every Shutdown

None of the dates above interrupted mandatory spending programs. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid continued operating through every shutdown on the list because they do not depend on annual appropriations. The agencies administering those programs may run with reduced staff during a lapse, which can slow new applications and customer service, but the benefit payments themselves do not stop.

How the Dates Group Together

Read down the list and a pattern emerges. From 1976 through 1980, funding gaps came almost every year and lasted a week or more, but nothing shut down. From 1981 through 1990, the Civiletti framework was in place, but most lapses were resolved in one to three days. The first full shutdown, in October 1986, lasted a single day. After a five-year quiet stretch, the December 1995 shutdown broke through the three-week mark, and every long shutdown since (16 days in 2013, 35 days in 2018–19, 43 days in 2025) has come from a deliberate standoff rather than a missed procedural deadline. The gaps in the fiscal-year sequence, especially the long stretches with no lapses at all, reflect years when Congress either passed appropriations on time or bridged deadlines with Continuing Resolutions before funding expired.

1
U.S. House of Representatives. Government Shutdowns
2
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Antideficiency Act
3
U.S. Department of Energy. Applicability of the Antideficiency Act Upon a Lapse in Agency Appropriations
4
USAGov. The Federal Budget Process
5
Congressional Research Service. Past Government Shutdowns – Key Resources
6
Congressional Research Service. FY2026 Government Shutdown