Politics Shutdown in the USA has reached record length
The partial government shutdown in the USA due to an unresolved budget has become the longest in the country's history. The 36th day of the so-called shutdown, which has serious consequences for the population and the economy, began on Tuesday night (local time). The longest shutdown to date ended in 2019 during President Donald Trump's first term of office after 35 days.
05.11.2025, 06:48
SDA
The ongoing partial shutdown of government business is also becoming increasingly noticeable in the everyday lives of Americans. Many employees of federal agencies have not been paid since October. There are long queues at airports because check-in is not running as usual. And those who are dependent on food aid currently have to wait longer for it. Institutions classified as non-systemically relevant, such as the Office for Labor Market Statistics, have had to close or send their employees on compulsory leave.
This is the reason for the shutdown
The US parliament was supposed to have agreed on a new federal budget by the end of September. However, a draft from Trump's Republican Party for a transition budget did not receive the necessary majority in Congress. A proposal from the Democrats had previously failed. Because no more budget funds are available, parts of government activity came to a standstill.
A power struggle between Republicans and Democrats has been going on in Washington for some time. Both blame each other for the shutdown. Although the Republicans have the majority in both chambers of parliament - the House of Representatives and the Senate - they are dependent on votes from the Democrats to resolve the budget deadlock.
Health spending as a central point of contention
The Democrats want to reverse cuts to the state pension program for low-income people, for example. These cuts were part of Trump's big tax bill. The Republicans reject changes because the law was only passed in the summer.
Trump's party wants to limit subsidies for private health insurance. These should only apply for two years - and only for people with legal residence status. The Democrats, on the other hand, consider a permanent continuation of the subsidies to be appropriate in order to ensure that millions of Americans have access to affordable health insurance. In contrast to Germany, there is no general state health insurance in the USA.
When will who move towards whom?
The big question remains: When will which party make concessions and thus create the basis for a viable budget? With a transitional budget, the US government could at least resume its activities on a larger scale.
When the longest shutdown to date lasted 35 days in 2018/19, Trump was in the middle of his first term in office. At that time, both parties only moved towards each other after the majority of the population blamed the Republicans for the budget blockade and accumulated economic losses. Trump signed a law on January 25, 2019, that allowed for the partial reopening of the government.
