The most recent U.S. federal government shutdown began just after midnight on October 1, 2025, and ended on November 12, 2025, lasting 43 days and becoming the longest shutdown in U.S. history.

Quick Scoop

  • The shutdown started when Congress failed to pass funding for the 2026 fiscal year by the October 1, 2025 deadline.
  • It formally ended late on November 12, 2025, when President Donald Trump signed a funding bill passed by both chambers of Congress, reopening federal operations.
  • This 43‑day stoppage surpassed the prior record 35‑day shutdown of 2018–2019, which also occurred during a Trump administration budget standoff.

Why it shut down

  • The central fight was over extending expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies; Senate Democrats opposed the House Republican funding bill because it did not include that extension.
  • Repeated attempts to pass a continuing resolution failed—reports note at least a dozen failed votes—before a bipartisan compromise finally moved through the Senate and then the House in November.

What “government shutdown” means

  • A federal government shutdown happens when Congress does not pass, and the president does not sign, appropriations or a stopgap funding bill, which halts many “non‑essential” federal services and furloughs hundreds of thousands of workers.
  • “Essential” functions, like national security and certain health and safety operations, continue, but many agencies slow down or stop services, causing delays, financial strain on workers, and broader economic ripple effects.

TL;DR: If you’re asking “when did the government shutdown,” most people right now are referring to the shutdown that ran from October 1, 2025, to November 12, 2025.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.