The U.S. Government shut down at midnight on Friday after a critical Bill for federal spending till February 16 was not passed by the Congress. This was a result of sparring between the Democrats and Republicans over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme which deals with children of illegal immigrants. According to Vox , this would be the first time in the history of the United States’ for a shutdown to occur “under a single party government”, that is, when one party controls both the Senate and the House.
The last time a government shutdown occurred was in 2013 during the Obama government, when Democrats and Republicans split over the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as it is known.
Till 1974, the U.S. Government did not have a formal budgeting process. After the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Act was passed, there have been a total of 18 government ‘shutdowns’, including the on-going one. Some of these shutdowns did not have an actual effect on the working population, meaning workers were not furloughed. They were ‘funding gaps’ that lasted a day or two.
Others, including a couple that lasted just half a day, were major ones that cost the government millions.
Some funding gaps occurred in the same year. Ronald Reagan’s presidency saw the highest number of shutdowns/funding gaps, while Bill Clinton’s saw the longest -- 21 days.
Here is a list of some of the major shutdowns since 1974.
May 1, 1980: Only one agency -- the Federal Trade Commission -- stopped working for one day after the government failed to decide how much the agency should be spending. About 1600 employees, according to The Washington Post, ended up being furloughed. The one-day shutdown cost the government about $700,000.
Nov 20-23 1981: The first major government shutdown and the first for the Ronald Reagan government. The shutdown, which furloughed 241,000 employees out of the total 2.3 million people who worked for the government, came about because the budget had fewer cuts than President Reagan had originally proposed.
October 4, 1984: About half a million government employees were sent home for just half a day, after the government could not agree on a “stopgap money bill”. The New York Times put back-payments as result of the shutdown at an estimated $65 million.
October 16, 1986: Again, lasting just half a day, the shutdown came about because the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House could not come to an agreement about welfare measures. According to The New York Times, this shutdown sent 500,000 workers home and cost the taxpayers $62 million.
Oct 6-8, 1990: The shutdown happened over a weekend, so the 2.4 million workers planned to be sent home the following Monday were not actually furloughed. Then-President George H. W. Bush, after a compromise with the Democrats in the Congress, had increased tax rates despite promising not to during his 1989 campaign, leading to a revolt in the House.
Nov 13-19, 1995: Disagreements between the Republican-run Congress and Democratic President Bill Clinton over health insurance, education budgets and a seven-year deadline to balance the budget led to this five-day shutdown. Around 800,000 workers were furloughed.
Dec 16, 1995-Jan 6, 1996: The longest shutdown in the history of the United States took place after President Clinton butted heads with the Congress once again on the same issues. This time around, the shutdown furloughed more than 200,000 workers and reportedly cost the government more than $1.4 billion.
Republican leader Newt Gingrich starred as the main opposition to both Presidents in the last three shutdowns - against Mr. Bush as Minority Whip in the House and against Mr. Clinton as House Speaker.
October 1-16 2013: The first government shutdown in 17 years took place over disagreements about the Affordable Care Act. Between the House and the Senate re-doing and re-passing the ACA back and forth, Congress could not pass a viable spending bill. The Washington Post reported that about 800,000 workers were furloughed and another “1.3 million workers were required to work without knowing their payment dates”.
