--- title: The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day description: Most shutdowns have been much shorter than the ongoing one—including four that ended after a single day. canonical: https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/ author: Chantelle Lee article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-11-05T23:01:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:30:56.001Z article:section: Politics og:title: The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day og:description: Most shutdowns have been much shorter than the ongoing one—including four that ended after a single day. og:url: https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2173d828430ae8e9/6998cb6de1ba00325698e165/Shortest-Shutdowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Shutdown Pain Spreads At One Month, Touching Tens Of Millions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day twitter:description: Most shutdowns have been much shorter than the ongoing one—including four that ended after a single day. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2173d828430ae8e9/6998cb6de1ba00325698e165/Shortest-Shutdowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Nov 5, 2025 11:01 PM UTC  The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3. The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 3. Aaron Schwartz—Bloomberg Finance LP/Getty Images by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) ## Chantelle Lee Reporter Nov 5, 2025 11:01 PM UTC The ongoing government shutdown now holds the record for the [longest in U.S. history](https://time.com/7331167/longest-government-shutdown-history/) at 35 days and counting. It marks the second shutdown in a row that has lasted longer than a month: the [other](https://time.com/7321870/when-was-the-last-government-shutdown-united-states/), during President Donald Trump’s first term, went on for 34 days before a funding deal was reached. Most shutdowns, however, have been much shorter. Not including the current one, there have been 20 instances of “funding gaps,” or periods of at least one day when funds weren’t appropriated, since Congress introduced the modern budget process in 1976, according to the [Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget](https://www.crfb.org/papers/government-shutdowns-qa-everything-you-should-know#howmanytimes). Most of those lasted less than two weeks—and some only a few days. **Read More:** [_The Longest Government Shutdowns in U.S. History—and Where This One Ranks_](https://time.com/7325137/government-shutdown-longest-history/) Four shutdowns—all while former President Ronald Reagan was in office—share the title for the shortest in U.S. history, each lasting just one day, according to a [collaborative project](https://history.house.gov/Institution/Shutdown/Government-Shutdowns/) between the Office of the Historian and the Clerk of the House’s Office of Art and Archives. Here’s what to know about them. ## **Sept. 30, 1982 to Oct. 2, 1982** This shutdown began, like all the others, because Congress missed the deadline to pass a spending bill to fund the government. But in this case that failure wasn’t the result of unresolved disagreements over the terms in the legislation; rather, Democrats and Republicans had managed to strike a compromise, but both had events the night funding expired, delaying the legislation’s passage until after the government had shut down, according to the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/01/us/conferees-adopt-stopgap-fund-bill.html). ## **Oct. 3, 1984 to Oct. 5, 1984** Two funding gaps occurred back-to-back in 1984: one that lasted from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3, and the other from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5\. The first unfolded because Reagan and House Democrats disagreed over certain provisions related to crime, civil rights, and water projects, and days passed before the President signed a temporary measure passed by Congress. Lawmakers then failed to meet the new deadline set by the measure, and the government shut down, leading to 500,000 workers being furloughed for about half a day on Oct. 4, according to the [_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/11/us/looking-back-previous-government-shutdowns.html). In the end, Democrats conceded to Reagan’s demands, including agreeing to pass a crime bill that the President had wanted and giving up provisions related to civil rights and water projects. Workers returned to the office the day after they had been sent home, the _Times_ reported. ## **Oct. 16, 1986 to Oct. 18, 1986** The government shut down once again two years later after House Democrats pressed for provisions that the Reagan Administration was against, such as expanding welfare (what was then called Aid to Families With Dependent Children). About 500,000 non-essential federal workers were furloughed for half a day, the [_Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/11/us/looking-back-previous-government-shutdowns.html)reported_._ The shutdown ended after Republicans agreed to vote on expanding welfare, in exchange for Democrats passing a funding bill. ## **Dec. 18, 1987 to Dec. 20, 1987** Democrats and Republicans disagreed over whether to send funding to the Contras, a rebel group in Nicaragua—a request Democrats pushed back against. Democrats also tried to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, a Federal Communications Commission policy that had required broadcasters to cover various perspectives on controversial political issues before it was repealed earlier that year. The disagreements briefly shut down the government, but it reopened after Democrats [agreed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/12/20/agreement-is-seen-on-contra-aid/a262fb9c-28db-4172-81df-5727938c3af6/) to send non-lethal aid to the Contras. They were unable to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. ## **Honorable mention: Feb. 8, 2018** During Trump’s first term, there was a five-and-a-half-hour lapse in appropriations on Feb. 8, 2018 that was caused by Republican Sen. Rand Paul filibustering a bipartisan spending bill [because of its cost](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/longest-government-shutdown/), which delayed the bill’s passage until 5:30 a.m. Some have referred to it as a [shutdown](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/08/congress-massive-budget-deal-2018-398189), but, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, it didn’t result in any federal employees getting furloughed and it’s not counted among the 20 official instances of “funding gaps.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/"},"headline":"The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day","datePublished":"2025-11-05T23:01:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:30:56.001Z","description":"Most shutdowns have been much shorter than the ongoing one—including four that ended after a single day.","url":"https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/","keywords":["Budget","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2173d828430ae8e9/6998cb6de1ba00325698e165/Shortest-Shutdowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2173d828430ae8e9/6998cb6de1ba00325698e165/Shortest-Shutdowns.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shutdown Pain Spreads At One Month, Touching Tens Of Millions","caption":"Shutdown Pain Spreads At One Month, Touching Tens Of Millions","creditText":"Aaron Schwartz—Bloomberg Finance LP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/budget/","name":"Budget"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7331587/government-shutdown-how-long-history/","name":"The Government Shutdowns That Lasted Just One Day"}}]}] ```