Week by week, key moments from the 43-day shutdown that disrupted flights, food benefits and federal work
When Senate Democrats decided in September to use the government funding bill to put up a fight over expiring healthcare subsides, it set the stage for a 43-day federal government shutdown marked by turmoil for hundreds of thousands of federal workers, a battle over food benefits, thousands of cancelled flights, and a rare Democratic stand against Donald Trump’s second-term agenda that progressives had been demanding since the election.
Each week brought new disruptions and frustrations, until a group of seven moderate Democrats and one independent struck a deal to reopen the government in exchange for a promised – but not guaranteed – vote on the healthcare subsidies by mid-December.
Here are the critical moments from the shutdown’s first day to the final votes that ended the standoff.
The government shutdown begins after midnight when the Senate rejected both the Republican‑led House stopgap funding bill, which would have kept the government funded through 21 November, and a Democratic alternative continuing resolution with healthcare subsidies.
