It’s a weird feeling when the news anchors start counting down to midnight like it’s New Year’s Eve, but instead of fireworks, you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of people potentially losing their paychecks. People often ask about when government shut down as if it's a single, monolithic event. Honestly, it’s more like a recurring fever. It’s that moment when the Antideficiency Act—a dusty piece of legislation from 1884—kicks in because Congress couldn't agree on a spending bill.
The lights don't just go out. It's way more selective than that.
The mail still comes. The military stays at their posts. But if you were planning to visit Old Faithful or apply for a specific small business loan, you’re basically out of luck. It’s a game of "essential" versus "non-essential," which is a pretty harsh way to describe someone's career.
The Time the Parks Became a Free-for-All
Most people remember the 35-day stretch from late 2018 into early 2019. It was the longest one we've ever had. It started over border wall funding, but the reality on the ground was far more chaotic than a debate in a climate-controlled room in DC. Because the Department of the Interior was part of the lapse, National Parks were left in this bizarre limbo. Some stayed open but with no staff.
Imagine Joshua Tree National Park without any rangers. It wasn't pretty. Without anyone to manage the crowds, trash cans overflowed, and some folks actually cut down the iconic trees to make new paths or campsites. It was a mess.
This is the tangible side of when government shut down that gets lost in the political polling. It’s not just "politics as usual." It’s real-world degradation of public resources. We also saw TSA agents working without pay for weeks. They were showing up to secure our flights while wondering how they’d cover rent. By the end, the "sick-outs" at major airports like LaGuardia were what finally broke the deadlock. When the planes stop moving, the politicians start talking.
Why Does This Keep Happening?
It didn't used to be this way. Before 1980, if Congress missed a deadline, the government just... kept running. Agencies would basically operate on the assumption that the money was coming eventually. Then, Benjamin Civiletti, the Attorney General under Jimmy Carter, issued a legal opinion. He argued that the law literally forbids agencies from spending money that hasn't been appropriated.
👉 See also: Trump on Gun Control: What Most People Get Wrong
That changed everything.
Since then, we've had roughly 20 gaps in funding, though only about ten of them involved actually sending people home. The 1990s were particularly rough. Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton went head-to-head twice in a matter of months. People forget that the second one in '95 lasted 21 days and was largely about Medicare premiums and balanced budgets.
The Financial Ripple Effect
When you think about the economy, a shutdown is like a localized recession. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the 2018-2019 shutdown delayed about $18 billion in federal spending. While most of that was eventually recovered when the government reopened, about $3 billion was just gone. Poof. Dead loss.
Think about the local diner near a federal building in Maryland. If 500 workers don't come in for lunch for a month, that diner isn't getting those sales back later. Those workers aren't going to eat two lunches every day for a month to make up for it.
- Federal contractors get hit the hardest.
- Government employees usually get back pay (thanks to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019).
- Contractors—the janitors, the security guards, the tech consultants—often get zero. Nothing.
What Actually "Shuts Down"?
It’s a patchwork. You have "appropriated" funds and "mandatory" spending. Social Security? That keeps rolling because it’s mandatory. Medicare? Same thing. But the FDA’s routine food inspections? Those often get paused. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) might stop admitting new patients for clinical trials.
There was a heartbreaking story during one of the mid-2010s lapses where families with children battling cancer were told they couldn't start new experimental treatments at the NIH because of the budget standoff. That’s the high stakes of these "technicalities."
✨ Don't miss: Trump Eliminate Department of Education: What Most People Get Wrong
And then there's the irony. It actually costs more money to shut down the government than to keep it running. You have to pay managers to spend days planning the shutdown, you pay for the shutdown process itself, and then you pay for the massive backlog of work once everyone returns. It's a massive waste of taxpayer cash.
Looking Back at 2013: The "Slim" Shutdown
The 2013 event was another 16-day marathon. It was largely centered on the Affordable Care Act. What I remember most about that one was the "Honor Flight" veterans. They showed up at the World War II Memorial in DC only to find it blocked off by barricades.
The visual was striking. Veterans in their 80s and 90s, who had traveled across the country, were being told they couldn't see their own memorial because of a budget fight. They ended up pushing through the barriers anyway. It was one of those moments that showed how poorly planned these things usually are.
Small Business and Housing
If you were in the middle of buying a house during a shutdown, you might have been stuck. The IRS often stops processing the tax transcripts that lenders need to verify your income. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) sees massive delays. Basically, if your life requires a signature from a federal employee, your life is on hold.
Small businesses also feel the burn. The Small Business Administration (SBA) stops approving new loans. For a guy trying to open a hardware store or a woman trying to expand her bakery, a three-week delay can be the difference between a successful launch and a failed lease.
The Reality of Back Pay and Stress
We should talk about the "back pay" myth. Yes, federal employees eventually get paid. But that doesn't help when your mortgage is due on the 1st and the government is still closed on the 5th. I've talked to federal workers who had to visit food banks in 2019. These are people with master's degrees and "stable" government jobs.
🔗 Read more: Trump Derangement Syndrome Definition: What Most People Get Wrong
The psychological toll is real. Every time a deadline approaches, thousands of families have to decide whether to skip a car payment or dip into their emergency fund. It's no way to run a country.
Strategic Moves for the Next Time
If you find yourself staring down a headline about when government shut down again, there are a few things you should check immediately. First, look at your "nexus" to federal services.
- Passport Renewal: If you have an international trip in three months, renew it now. Don't wait. State Department services are funded partly by fees, so they sometimes stay open longer, but the backlogs become legendary.
- Travel Plans: If you're heading to a National Park, check their specific "concessionaire" status. Sometimes private hotels inside the parks stay open even if the rangers are gone.
- Small Business Loans: If you're in the middle of an SBA loan application, get your paperwork in before the deadline. Once the "closed" sign goes up, your file will sit on a desk gathering dust.
- Federal Jobs: If you're applying for a federal position, expect the "time-to-hire" metric to explode.
Honestly, the best thing anyone can do is keep a "shutdown fund" if they work in or around the federal space. It sounds cynical, but until Congress changes the way it handles the power of the purse, these lapses are going to keep happening. They’ve become a feature, not a bug, of the modern political system.
The impact is always deeper than the headlines. It’s the scientist whose multi-year experiment is ruined because they weren't allowed into the lab to feed the cultures. It’s the tourist who saved for five years for a DC trip only to see the Smithsonians locked. It’s a messy, expensive, and largely preventable headache that reminds us just how much the "invisible" parts of government actually matter in our daily lives.
Next time you see the clock ticking down, don't just watch the pundits. Look at the specific departments involved. A "partial" shutdown might only affect a few agencies, while a "full" lapse is the one that really gums up the works of the American economy. Stay prepared, keep some cash on hand, and maybe renew that passport today just in case.