The federal government enters Phase 1 at 12:01 p.m. ET on Friday closure new year,

Work stoppages are not a new phenomenon in Washington, D.C., but their frequency has slowed since the turn of the century. Even so, growing partisan rancor, a dynamic political base and gridlock in Congress have made shutdowns longer and more damaging in recent decades.

Senate Republicans push House Republicans to oppose funding plan, voter ID legislation

Since 1976, the U.S. government has experienced 22 shutdowns. All government shutdowns occur for unique reasons, and typically the party forcing the shutdown does not win the core policy dispute.

The most recent one, longest in U.S. historyoccurred because of a dispute over the funding of Obamacare’s enhanced premium subsidies. Senate Democrats led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck SchumerNew York Democrats asked Republicans to negotiate or simply extend the subsidy, which finally expired last month.

The shutdown lasted 43 days and all federal agencies were closed.

House Democrats rebel against Schumer’s deal with White House, threatening longer shutdown

New York State Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York State House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hold a joint press conference at the U.S. Capitol on January 8, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images)

Previously, the last shutdown lasted 34 days, from December 2018 to January 2019, and was caused by President donald trump Proposed border wall. At the time, Schumer and then-incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., refused to give Trump more money to build a wall along the southern border.

He emerged from what was then a record closing with no funding.

The closure, which just entered its second day on Sunday, is an anomaly. Trump and Schumer agreed on a funding deal that scrapped the controversial Department of Homeland Security spending bill and replaced it with a short-term, two-week funding extension.

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The United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Despite complaints from both parties, the deal passed the Senate on Friday.

The bill’s survival in the House is an open question given the backlash from House Republicans demanding some policy wins, such as incorporating voter ID legislation into the bill.