The last U.S. government shutdown began on October 1, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. It was triggered because both the Republican and Democratic funding bills failed to reach the necessary 60 votes in the Senate, causing a lapse in government funding and a shutdown of nonessential operations.
Previously, the shutdown before this was the longest in U.S. history, lasting 35 days from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019, during President Donald Trump's first term.
