Will the US government soon be at a standstill? A dispute between the government and Congress has led to a shutdown 21 times. Often it only lasted a few hours, but sometimes it lasted five weeks – a look back.
“No air travel. No FBI agents. No food inspectors or drug squads. No visits to the Statue of Liberty or the national parks. And no one to write checks for welfare recipients, for pensioners, for health insurance companies.” With these half-astonished, half-worried words the “described the phenomenon of the shutdown, the government standstill.
Shutdown has become the standard weapon
What was not new at the time, but rare, has now developed into a kind of constant threat in Washington and a standard weapon in the fight between the two parties. To put it simply, the US government has to stop working whenever the country runs out of money. For example because Congress cannot agree on a budget. A budget approved by the government and members of parliament is the prerequisite for the federal authorities and their employees to be able to carry out their work. And get paid.
Now, at the end of September, the current budget year ends in the USA and the country is once again heading towards a budget freeze. Senators from President Joe Biden’s Democrats and the opposition Republicans have presented a compromise proposal for an interim budget that would ensure funding for federal authorities until November 17th. So far, it doesn’t look like this budget will pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. There, the right wing of the Republicans is blocking the interim budget and driving the USA towards a standstill.
First shutdown in the USA: September 1976
Many times in history the US government has been forced to stop working. In 1990, under George Bush Sr., the budget freeze lasted four days. It was one of the shorter shutdowns
- The government was shut down for ten days for the first time by the 38th President of the USA, Gerald Ford, in September 1976.
- Under his successor, Jimmy Carter, this situation became almost routine. Shutdowns occurred almost every month, three times between September and December 1977 and never for less than a week. This time is also worth mentioning because , a Democrat, had the majority in both chambers of Congress and yet there were hopeless internal party disputes.
- The second longest shutdown took place at the turn of the year 1995/96, when work stopped for less than three weeks. The reason at the time was the opposition Republicans, who wanted to use their congressional majority to reverse the president’s tax increases. This was preceded by a short shutdown of five days in November. From mid-December onwards for a full 21 days.
- It took 18 years until a government was closed again in 2013. The reason was the bitter dispute over Barack Obama’s health care reform. Almost a million public servants had to go on compulsory leave for 17 days. The shutdown cost the economy an estimated $400 million per day.
- Unsurprisingly, it was Donald Trump whose term in office saw the longest and most expensive budget freeze to date. Shortly before Christmas 2018, his government had to stop work and rest for 35 days. The reason was a dispute over how to pay for the wall on the Mexican border demanded by Trump. 800,000 state employees were on unpaid leave for five weeks, and the shutdown cost $11 billion.
This text was published in 2018 and 2019 – each in a slightly different version. We have updated it again.
Sources: “”, , “”, “”, DPA, AFP, “”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
