Data, and nothing but the data. Want opinions on tech, open data, and data science methodology? Cool. College sports? Simple. An acknowledged bias against #umich. Political opinions? Go literally anywhere else for that. Not us.
So what is a Federal Government shutdown? Well, for starters, it’s not a shutdown.
It’s the result of the 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act. Among other things, it required that Congress must authorize funding for the federal government. This is something, in the 44 years since it has passed, it has failed to do on time in 36.4% of the budget cycles, or 16 of the past 44 years The shutdowns of Jan/Feb 2018 were related to the 2017 budget cycle, and are counted as such.. With continuing resolutions in the same cycle, it has happened 22 times.
This did not always mean a shutdown. The first six times this happened, it was business as usual. A series of opinions issued by then-Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti in 1980 and 1981 established that, if a funding gap exists, the agency or agencies impacted must shut down. This, in turn, was his interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act.
The first time any agency was shut down as a result was during the 18-hour shutdown of the FTC on May 1, 1980.
Funding gaps result in shutdowns only when those agencies are without Congressionally-approved funding. Essential services, like the Department of Defense, are largely unaffected.
Of note:
The longest shutdown: December 22, 2018 – January 25, 2019 at 9 pm ET, under Donald Trump. [Update: Added January 12, 2018]
The longest shutdown: December 16, 1995 – January 6, 1996 under Bill Clinton.
The shortest shutdown: February 9, 2018 for about nine hours, under Donald Trump.
The only two presidents who had an actual partial or full shutdown while the same party controlled the executive and legislative branches? Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump.
U.S. Federal Government Funding Gaps
Sequence
Start
End
Duration (Hours)
President
Senate
House
Link
22
Dec 22 '18 12:00 AM
Jan 25 '19 9:00 PM
825.0035 days, 21 hours, 0 minutes
Donald Trump (R)
51-49 (R)
236-197 (R)
21
Feb 9 '18 12:00 AM
Feb 9 '18 9:00 AM
9.002 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes
Donald Trump (R)
51-49 (R)
236-197 (R)
20
Jan 20 '18 12:00 AM
Jan 22 '18 11:05 PM
71.082 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes
Donald Trump (R)
51-49 (R)
236-197 (R)
19
Oct 1 '13 12:00 AM
Oct 17 '13 12:30 AM
384.5016 days, 0 hours, 30 minutes
Barack Obama (D)
54-46 (D)
232-200 (R)
18
Dec 16 '95 12:00 AM
Jan 6 '96 12:05 AM
504.0821 days, 0 hours, 5 minutes
Bill Clinton (D)
53-47 (R)
235-198 (R)
17
Nov 13 '95 12:00 AM
Nov 19 '95 6:40 PM
162.676 days, 18 hours, 40 minutes
Bill Clinton (D)
53-47 (R)
233-199 (R)
16
Oct 5 '90 12:00 AM
Oct 10 '90 1:30 AM
121.505 days, 1 hour, 30 minutes
George H. W. Bush (R)
55-45 (D)
258-176 (D)
15
Dec 18 '87 12:00 AM
Dec 20 '87 8:00 PM
68.002 days, 20 hours
Ronald Reagan (R)
54-46 (D)
258-177 (D)
14
Oct 16 '86 12:00 AM
Oct 19 '86 1:30 AM
73.503 days, 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ronald Reagan (R)
53-47 (R)
253-182 (D)
13
Oct 3 '84 12:00 AM
Oct 5 '84 5:00 PM
65.002 days, 17 hours
Ronald Reagan (R)
55-45 (R)
270-165 (D)
12
Sep 30 '84 12:00 AM
Oct 3 '84 12:00 PM
84.003 days, 12 hours
Ronald Reagan (R)
55-45 (R)
270-165 (D)
11
Nov 10 '83 12:00 AM
Nov 14 '83 12:00 AM
96.004 days
Ronald Reagan (R)
55-45 (R)
271-164 (D)
10
Dec 17 '82 12:00 AM
Dec 21 '82 12:10 AM
96.174 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes
Ronald Reagan (R)
53-47 (R)
244-191 (D)
9
Sep 30 '82 12:00 AM
Oct 2 '82 10:00 PM
70.002 days, 22 hours
Ronald Reagan (R)
53-47 (R)
244-191 (D)
8
Nov 20 '81 12:00 AM
Nov 23 '81 6:38 PM
90.633 days, 18 hours, 38 minutes
Ronald Reagan (R)
53-47 (R)
244-191 (D)
7
May 1 '80 12:00 AM
May 1 '80 6:00 PM
18.0018 hours
Jimmy Carter (D)
58-42 (D)
277-158 (D)
6
Sep 30 '79 12:00 AM
Oct 12 '79 8:00 PM
308.0012 days, 20 hours
Jimmy Carter (D)
58-42 (D)
277-158 (D)
5
Sep 30 '78 12:00 AM
Oct 18 '78 12:00 AM
432.0018 days
Jimmy Carter (D)
59-41 (D)
292-143 (D)
4
Nov 30 '77 12:00 AM
Dec 9 '77 12:00 AM
216.009 days
Jimmy Carter (D)
59-41 (D)
292-143 (D)
3
Oct 31 '77 12:00 AM
Nov 9 '77 12:00 AM
216.009 days
Jimmy Carter (D)
59-41 (D)
292-143 (D)
2
Sep 30 '77 12:00 AM
Oct 13 '77 12:00 AM
312.0013 days
Gerald Ford (R)
59-41 (D)
292-143 (D)
1
Sep 30 '76 12:00 AM
Oct 11 '76 11:59 PM
288.0012 days
Gerald Ford (R)
62-38 (D)
291-144 (D)
Editor’s Note: We incorrectly initially listed the 1995 shutdown as beginning on December 5th, 1995. It began December 16, 1995. We regret this error.
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