U.S. Government Shutdowns
Sixteen times so far
It seems like the end of every year now comes with a threat shutting down the government over one budget issue or another. How many shutdowns have there actually been? I asked Mistral AI:
Mistral notes: This table includes all government shutdowns that resulted in the furlough of federal employees. It does not include funding gaps that were resolved before the start of the federal workday, or that occurred during weekends or holidays.
I asked several other AI as well, and their answers were all a little bit different. So there may be some inaccuracies (“hallucinations”) in the data, but the table gives us the general idea.
Here are some of my observations:
- No government shutdowns in the first 200 years of our history. Does 1976 mark the year we became idiots?
- 16 shutdowns in 48 years is 1 shutdown per 3 budgets, average.
- Every President since Gerald Ford experienced shutdowns, except for George W. Bush and Joe Biden — and Biden still has time. Who said W was dumb?
- Reagan was the worst, with 6 shutdowns. However, they were all brief, totaling only 7 days.
- Trump was the worst in terms of days, with two shutdowns totaling 36 days. I don’t even remember that happening! I guess it was overshadowed by the other horrors happening on a day-to-day basis while that monster was in office.
- The most memorable shutdown for me was the 21 day event under Bill Clinton, partly due to the length and partly due to the fierce Clinton-Gingrich conflict that ended in Clinton’s impeachment at the end of 1998, as well as the end of Gingrich’s speakership.
- I associated government shutdowns with threats of refusing to raise the debt ceiling to cover the past year’s spending. But Mistral AI explains: None of the government shutdowns listed in this table were caused by a failure to raise the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is a separate issue from the federal budget and spending, and a failure to raise the debt ceiling could potentially have significant consequences for the federal government’s ability to borrow and finance its operations, but it would not necessarily result in a government shutdown. Huh.
Government shutdowns create a lot of suffering and grief for most government employees and contractors, for lower income folks who depend on government assistance*, and for small businesses with government contracts. National parks and museums close. The country’s security and the world economy are endangered. When are we going to put an end to this foolishness and start electing mature leaders? Preferably wise ones, although I would take dumb and mature over wise and immature.
* Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are mostly unaffected by government shutdowns because they operate from trust funds
Here is the table data in text form, for those of you using screen readers:
| Index | Year | Length (days) | President | Reason |
| — — | — — | — — | — — | — — |
| 1 | 1976 | 10 | Gerald Ford | Budget failure |
| 2 | 1977 | 8 | Jimmy Carter | Budget failure |
| 3 | 1978 | 17 | Jimmy Carter | Budget failure |
| 4 | 1979 | 11 | Jimmy Carter | Budget failure |
| 5 | 1981 | 2 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 6 | 1982 | 1 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 7 | 1983 | 1 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 8 | 1984 | 1 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 9 | 1986 | 1 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 10 | 1987 | 1 | Ronald Reagan | Budget failure |
| 11 | 1990 | 3 | George H.W. Bush | Budget failure |
| 12 | 1995–1996 | 21 | Bill Clinton | Budget failure, including disagreement over Medicare and welfare reform |
| 13 | 1996 | 5 | Bill Clinton | Budget failure |
| 14 | 2013 | 16 | Barack Obama | Budget failure, including disagreement over the Affordable Care Act |
| 15 | 2018 | 35 | Donald Trump | Budget failure, including disagreement over funding for a border wall |
| 16 | 2019 | 1 | Donald Trump | Budget failure |
