From October 1 to November 12, 2025, the federal government of the United States was shut down as Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives advanced a continuing resolution, but Senate Democrats repeatedly blocked it. The legislation failed 14 times before a revised appropriations bill was passed on November 10. The House of Representatives passed the Senate's revised bill on November 12, which President Donald Trump signed that day. The shutdown was the 11th government shutdown that resulted in federal employees being furloughed and the longest full government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting 43 days.
Democrats in the Senate and the House opposed the Republican appropriations bill because it did not include an extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies that were scheduled to expire in November 2025. The bipartisan agreement that ended the shutdown put the matter up to a vote in December.
The shutdown resulted in the furlough of roughly 900,000 federal employees and kept another two million working without pay. Some government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid continued to operate through the shutdown, as did certain agencies such as the Department of Defense and the Transportation Security Administration. Other agencies' operations were partially or fully suspended, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Background
Article One of the United States Constitution vests the U.S. Congress with the authority to appropriate funds drawn from the Treasury. Since 1977, the federal budget process has used a fiscal year that runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year, with 12 individual spending bills that must be passed. Political polarization has affected this process, often forcing lawmakers to pass continuing resolutions to temporarily fund the government.
The failure of Congress to agree on funding legislation leads to a government shutdown when the previous funding term ends. In a government shutdown, federal agencies continue work categorized as "essential", but federal employees and contractors are furloughed and not immediately paid. The authority to determine the work that continues is vested in the director of the Office of Management and Budget, although the president has broad authority over this process.
Earlier budget impasse
Ahead of a lapse of government funding expected to occur in March 2025, Democrats in Congress largely objected to funding the government as President Donald Trump moved to assume control of the extent of its operations, including eliminating federal funding and dismissing government workers. Hours before the deadline, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced that he would support a continuing resolution to fund the government through September, arguing that Trump's efforts were being halted in the courts—which could be impeded by a shutdown; that a shutdown would give greater authority to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE); and that market uncertainty would mount over a shutdown in addition to imminent widespread tariffs, causing ambiguity over the responsibility of economic fear. Schumer's support incited other Democrats to vote in favor of a temporary continuing resolution proposed by Republicans, allowing the measure to pass and averting a shutdown. Schumer was criticized by several Democrats for his move, including House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Affordable Care Act subsidies
Passed in 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a major reform of the U.S. healthcare system that, among other provisions, established income-based tax credits to subsidize the cost of health insurance. For eligible households, subsidies reduced the cost of insurance premiums to between 2.07% and 9.38% of income. Households earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level were ineligible for subsidies, creating a steep welfare cliff.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increased and expanded the subsidies for 2021 and 2022, fulfilling a campaign promise by President Joe Biden. It eliminated the upper income cap and limited the share of income paid, now for all households, to between 0% and 8.5%. In line with the Build Back Better Plan, Democratic lawmakers proposed bills to make the expanded tax credits permanent. As a compromise, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended the expanded subsidies through 2025.
In 2025, Congress allowed the expanded subsidies to expire and made additional cuts to the medical welfare system under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Contention over these changes became a major conflict leading to the government shutdown.
Budget discussions
Initial passages and emerging conflicts
The continuing resolution Republicans passed set a deadline through the remainder of that year's fiscal budget term, expected to conclude at the end of September. However, Republicans repeatedly refused to negotiate with Democrats ahead of the deadline. In July, Republicans approved the Trump administration's request to rescind $9 billion allocated for foreign aid and public broadcasting. Washington senator Patty Murray, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, told The New York Times that the "partisan rescissions bill" complicated efforts for Democrats to work with Republicans on a funding bill for the next year's budget, set to begin in October. That month, senators opened debate on a series of appropriations bills, beginning with military construction projects and veterans programs. Democrats indicated that they would seek to avert a shutdown in budget discussions.
In July, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought said, "The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan", adding that the White House would not abide by bipartisan spending agreements and that he believed the Impoundment Control Act was unconstitutional. The remarks drew condemnation from Democrats and pushback from Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
By August, the Senate approved an initial set of spending bills, including $433 billion for veterans programs, $19.8 billion for military construction and family housing projects, $27.1 billion for agricultural programs, and $7.1 billion to continue the operations of Congress and legislative agencies. Although the bills passed before an anticipated recess that month for the first time since 2018, objections mounted, indicating further resistance ahead of the deadline. Louisiana senator John Kennedy unsuccessfully sought a two percent reduction in the agriculture bill. He later called for a separate vote on the legislative branch funding bill to state his opposition to the funding level. A fourth bill that would have funded the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice, and science agencies faltered after opposition from Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen. The legislative branch funding bill largely kept the Government Accountability Office's funding levels consistent, despite the agency's conflict with the Trump administration; the House of Representatives's bill halved the office's budget. In September, House speaker Mike Johnson and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries discussed extending government funding into November or December. A continuing resolution emerged as a likely way to resolve the impasse, though the cession of Congress's authority to determine spending concerned several Democrats.
Impasse and deadlock
The Trump administration, along with several fiscal hawks, advocated for funding the government through January. Conversely, Democrats and some Republicans sought a deal through November to ensure additional time for a compromise. The administration's move to cancel almost $5 billion in foreign aid through a pocket rescission intensified the impasse. House and Senate appropriators suggested a bill to fund the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and congressional operations for a year with a short-term extension for other agencies. Representative Andy Harris, the chair of the Freedom Caucus, expressed reluctant support for a temporary bill proposed by Representative Tom Cole, the chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, so long as Cole had the votes. The discussions collided with the Trump administration's request to bolster security for Supreme Court justices and increase funding for the Marshals Service after the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Lower-court judges also sought security of their own.
Democrats sought to force Republicans to extend healthcare insurance subsidies, set to expire at the end of the year. Trump publicly told Republicans not to "bother dealing with them" and to support Cole's "clean" continuing resolution; additional funding for lawmakers after Charlie Kirk's death delayed the bill's release. On September 16, Johnson released the spending bill without insurance subsidies, expecting Democrats to balk and cause a shutdown or to support a bill that retained the status quo, increasing health insurance premiums for Affordable Care Act recipients. Representatives Thomas Massie and Victoria Spartz and Senator Rand Paul, all fiscally conservative Republicans, opposed the bill over its spending additions and a narrow timeline for a larger appropriations bill.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican, also initially opposed the bill because she believed it could not pass the Senate. Democrats opposed the bill and made a counteroffer to increase health spending by $1 trillion. The Republican plan passed the House on September 19 but failed in the Senate, with 44 voting in favor to 48 against. John Fetterman was the only Senate Democrat to vote for the plan, while two Republicans voted against it. The same day, the Democratic plan failed in the Senate on party lines, by a vote of 47 to 45. In the following weeks, the Senate repeatedly rejected the Republican funding measure, with some proposals failing more than a dozen times amid ongoing negotiations.
Schumer and Jeffries requested a meeting with Trump after the votes failed. Trump abruptly canceled the meeting, calling their demands "unserious". He finally met with the Democrats, joined by Johnson and Thune, in the Oval Office one day before the deadline. The came following repeated calls by Democrats. After the meeting was agreed to, Jeffries and Schumer released a joint statement:
As we have repeatedly said, Democrats will meet anywhere, at any time and with anyone to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that meets the needs of the American people. We are resolute in our determination to avoid a government shutdown and address the Republican healthcare crisis. Time is running out.
The meeting was Jeffries's first with Trump and Trump's first invitation of Democrats to the White House in his second term. The meeting failed to lead to a path out of the gridlock. In fact, Trump stated that he would not begin negotiations with Democratic leaders on reopening the government until after the government had reopened.
At 7:31 p.m. EDT, hours after the meeting, Trump posted an AI-generated video on Truth Social of Chuck Schumer (in a faux speech voice-over) denigrating immigrants and calling the Democrats "woke pieces of shit" to mock the Democratic base, with Jeffries, an African American, at his side wearing a cartoonish sombrero and a handlebar mustache while the Mexican hat dance played in the background. The Republican messaging also included JD Vance averring that he believed a shutdown was imminent, with the Democrats to blame. Meanwhile, a White House official summed the president's position on finding a solution as "go fuck yourself."
On September 30, 2025, hours before the shutdown began, the Senate voted again on the Democratic and Republican plans. The Democratic plan again failed on party lines (47 in favor, 53 against). All Republicans except Rand Paul, along with Democrats Catherine Cortez Masto and John Fetterman, as well as Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted for the plan, which thus failed 51–47. Despite receiving a majority of votes in the Senate, the Republican plan failed to pass because it could not overcome a 60-vote filibuster.
Meanwhile, Johnson continued to keep the House of Representatives largely in recess and did not hold votes on funding legislation. This led the New York Times journalist Annie Karni to write that Johnson had largely deferred his role to the president during the second Trump presidency by not holding oversight hearings and holding the House out of session. She added that Johnson had limited control over his members and instead, according to Karni, made "himself subservient to Mr. Trump".
After the votes, the Office of Management and Budget directed agencies to execute their shutdown plans, leading federal agencies to furlough hundreds of thousands of employees deemed nonessential. The shutdown officially began just after midnight on October 1, 2025.