Longest government shutdown in U.S. history, with the full list

What was the longest government shutdown?

It depends on whether you count partial shutdowns. In a full shutdown, none of the 12 yearly funding bills has passed. In a partial one, some agencies already have their money and keep running. Here are the shutdowns since 1995, from longest to shortest:

Lengths count from the first day without funding through the day the funding law was signed. The Congressional Research Service counts only full days without funding, which is one day less for some shutdowns.

Government shutdown history chart

Every shutdown since 1995, in the order they happened:

• Full shutdown
• Partial shutdown

1. Nov 199510 of 13 funding bills not yet passed 5 days
2. 1995–966 of 13 funding bills not yet passed 21 days
3. 2013Whole government 16 days
4. Jan 2018Whole government 3 days
5. 2018–197 of 12 funding bills not yet passed 35 days
6. 2025Whole government: longest full shutdown 43 days
7. Jan–Feb 2026About half of departments 4 days
8. Feb–Apr 2026Homeland Security only: longest of any kind 76 days

How many times has the government shut down?

Since the federal budget year moved to October 1 in 1976, funding has lapsed 23 times: the Congressional Research Service counted 21 through 2025, and two more happened in 2026.

Not every lapse became a shutdown. Before 1980, agencies usually kept working and waited for the money to arrive. That changed after the Justice Department's 1980 and 1981 legal opinions, which said agencies must stop work Congress has not funded. Even then, many short lapses over a weekend closed little or nothing. Counting only the lapses that led to widespread shutdowns and furloughs, there have been 8, all since 1995.

How often does the government shut down?

Over 50 budget years, funding has lapsed about once every two years on average. But the pattern has changed:

• 1976 to 1990: 15 lapses, most of them short and few with real closures.
• 1991 to 2017: long quiet stretches, broken by the 1995–96 shutdowns and the 2013 shutdown.
• 2018 to 2026: five shutdowns, including the three longest on record.

About half of all lapses lasted three days or less. Each one ended only when a new funding law was signed.

List of U.S. government shutdowns since 1976

Every lapse in federal funding, with the last day of funding and the day it was restored:

"Full days" counts only whole days without funding, the method the Congressional Research Service uses. The budget year (fiscal year) runs from October 1 to September 30, so a lapse in October 2025 belongs to budget year 2026.

The major shutdowns, one by one

February 14 – April 30, 2026: 76 days (Homeland Security only)

Lawmakers could not agree on changes to immigration enforcement tied to funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Every other department was already funded, so only DHS was affected. It is the longest shutdown of any kind. It ended when a law funding DHS was signed on April 30.

January 31 – February 3, 2026: 4 days (partial)

About half of federal departments lost funding after the Senate held up a funding package over the Homeland Security bill. It ended when a larger funding law was signed on February 3, which also gave DHS a short extension.

October 1 – November 12, 2025: 43 days (full)

The main dispute was whether to extend enhanced premium tax credits that lower the cost of Affordable Care Act health plans. None of the 12 funding bills had passed, so it was a full shutdown and the longest of that kind. It ended with a stopgap bill plus three full-year funding bills.

December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019: 35 days (partial)

The disagreement was over money for a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border. Five of the 12 funding bills, including defense, had already passed, so the shutdown hit only part of the government. For almost seven years it held the record as the longest shutdown.

January 20 – 22, 2018: 3 days (full)

The dispute centered on immigration, including protection for people brought to the U.S. as children under the DACA policy. A new stopgap bill ended it after a weekend.

October 1 – 16, 2013: 16 days (full)

The House attached conditions to funding that would have defunded or delayed the Affordable Care Act, and the Senate would not accept them. More than 800,000 federal employees were sent home at the start. A stopgap bill signed on October 17 ended it.

November 1995 and December 1995 – January 1996: 5 and 21 days

Two shutdowns came from budget fights between President Bill Clinton and Congress. The first began after the President vetoed a stopgap bill over Medicare premium increases in it. The second lasted 21 days, until a series of stopgap bills reopened agencies on January 6, 1996.

The longest shutdowns reached the most people. In 2025, November SNAP benefits were delayed or cut for many families, and the FAA ordered flight cuts at 40 busy airports. The causes differ each time, but why the government shuts down comes back to one rule: agencies cannot spend money Congress has not approved.

Is this the longest government shutdown?

No. There is no shutdown right now, so no record is being set. The government is funded through December 11, 2026. Our U.S. government shutdown tracker shows the live status and, during a shutdown, a running count of its days.

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