Government shutdown

Why agencies have to stop

Under the Antideficiency Act, federal agencies may not spend money Congress has not appropriated. When neither regular appropriations nor a continuing resolution is in place at the start of a fiscal year, or when a stopgap expires, funding lapses. Agencies must then halt activities that are not legally exempt and send many employees home until funding is restored.

What keeps running

A shutdown is less complete than the name suggests. Programs with permanent funding continue, including Social Security and Medicare benefits. Interest on the national debt is paid, because it does not depend on annual appropriations. Employees whose work protects life and property — air traffic controllers, border agents, most military personnel — keep working, though often without pay until the shutdown ends.

What stops is much of the rest: many national park services, parts of regulatory work, some statistical releases, grant processing and a large share of routine government services.

The longest shutdowns

The longest shutdown in US history began on October 1, 2025 and lasted 43 days, ending on November 12. The previous record, 35 days, ran from December 2018 into January 2019.

Shutdown versus debt ceiling

The two are regularly confused. A shutdown is about permission to spend: without appropriations, agencies stop. The debt ceiling is about permission to borrow to pay bills that are already due. A shutdown is disruptive but does not threaten payments to bondholders. Breaching the debt ceiling could, which is why financial markets react far more strongly to the second.

They do not save money

Furloughed federal employees have received back pay after shutdowns, and delayed work still has to be done. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 2018–2019 shutdown reduced economic output by billions of dollars, part of which was never recovered.