Trump breaks his own record for the longest government shutdown in history
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The U.S. is officially in its longest-ever government shutdown as of Wednesday — surpassing a milestone previously set by President Trump's first administration.
Why it matters: During the 35 days of lapsed funding, federal workers have missed paychecks, anxiety over food access has mounted and Trump has unilaterally carried out his agenda.
- The government shut down twice during Trump's first term, for two and 34 days, respectively. And despite repeated attempts in Congress to break the stalemate, the ongoing shutdown shows no signs of ending soon.
Context: Last month, Trump passed the threshold for overseeing the most cumulative days under a federal funding gap — beating former President Carter's 56 days across five shutdowns.
- Former President Reagan holds the record for the most government shutdowns, with eight occurring across two terms.
The fine print: The federal government counts shutdown days as starting after the final day on which budget authority was available and ending the day before new budget authority was enacted.
Catch up quick: The government shut down following a partisan disagreement over whether to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.
- Republican lawmakers have inaccurately claimed that Democrats are looking to fund the health care of undocumented immigrants.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has repeatedly canceled House votes during the shutdown, saying representatives would only come back if the Senate passed House Republicans' spending bill.
Zoom out: 52% of voters blame Trump and congressional Republicans for the continued stalemate, according to an NBC News poll released on Sunday.
- 42% blame Democrats in Congress and 4% blame all of the players.
Threat level: Each week of the shutdown could cause a $7 billion hit to the U.S. economy, according to an EY-Parthenon estimate.
- Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought foreshadowed firing between 4,100 and 10,000 employees across several agencies, and while the Trump administration followed through on threats to slash the workforce, a federal judge temporarily blocked the layoffs.
Go deeper: Trump shutdown workarounds test a 150-year-old law
