 Website of theUnited States Department of State during the first shutdown | |
| Date | First shutdown: January 31 – February 3, 2026 (2026-01-31 –2026-02-03) (4 days) Second shutdown: February 14, 2026 – present (2026-02-14 – present) (0 days) |
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| Cause | End of certain appropriations from the Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026 |
| This article is part ofa series on the |
| Budget and debt in the United States |
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Contemporary issues |
Twoshutdowns of the U.S. federal government have occurred in 2026, both arising from disputes inCongress about reforms to federal immigration enforcement after thekilling of Alex Pretti byCustoms and Border Protection (CBP) agents. The first shutdown lasted four days from January 31 to February 3, affecting about half of the departments of thefederal government; it was caused by delays in approving a funding package that would allow time for reform negotiations. The second began on February 14 due to a lack of progress in the reform negotiations, and only affects theDepartment of Homeland Security.
On January 22, 2026, a package containing the final six of the twelve annual appropriations bills passed the House. After CBP agents killed Alex Pretti two days later, Senate Democrats said they would no longer support theDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) bill, which includes funding for CBP, favoring a continuing resolution to allow time for negotiations to include reforms in the bill. After a week of negotiations, Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement on January 29 to pass a package containing five of the bills plus a two-week continuing resolution for DHS, which passed the Senate the following day. Although the Senate passed the bill before funding ran out, the House only approved it on February 3, and the first shutdown ended that day.[1]
Negotiations on Homeland Security did not reach a resolution during the extended two weeks negotiating period, leading to the second shutdown.
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Article One of the United States Constitution vests theU.S. Congress with the authority to appropriate funds drawn from the Treasury.[2]: 1 Political polarization has affected this process, often forcing lawmakers to passcontinuing resolutions to temporarily fund the government.[3] The failure of Congress to agree on funding legislation leads to agovernment shutdown when the previous funding term ends.[2]: 28-29 In a government shutdown, federal agencies continue work categorized as "essential", but federal employees and contractors arefurloughed and not immediately paid.[4]
The2025 federal government shutdown began after government funding expired on October 1, 2025.[5] On November 9, 2025, after negotiations between Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans, a deal was revealed to end the shutdown. The agreement would include a continuing resolution that would fund the government until the end of January, and full-year appropriations bills for the Departments ofVeterans Affairs andAgriculture, military construction, and theLegislative Branch.
A package was enacted in mid-January 2026 including the appropriations bills forInterior andEnvironment;Commerce,Justice, and science (includingNASA and theNational Science Foundation); andEnergy and water development activities of theArmy Corps of Engineers and Department of the Interior.[6]
Later in January, the House and Senate reached agreements to pass the final three appropriations bills needed to avoid a partial government shutdown. These three bills passed the House on January 22, 2026.[7][8]
Following thekilling of Alex Pretti byCustoms and Border Protection (CBP) agents on January 24, 2026, Democrats in the Senate announced they would no longer support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bill, which funds CBP.[9] Unlike the House, which voted on each of the three bills separately, the Senate voted only once on all the bills together. Therefore to oppose the Department of Homeland Security bill, Democrats would need to vote against the entire package.
On January 29, 2026, the Senate failed to advance the government funding package in a 45–55 vote. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the bill. Most of the Republicans voting against the bill werefiscal conservatives, includingRon Johnson of Wisconsin,Tommy Tuberville of Alabama,Mike Lee of Utah,Rand Paul of Kentucky andRick Scott andAshley Moody of Florida. Unlike the Democrats, these Republicans are seeking more funding cuts and are generally opposed to a new deal between Republicans and Democrats for Homeland Security funding.[10]
Later that day, a deal was announced in the Senate to separate the DHS funding bill, and pass a package containing the other five bills plus a two-week continuing resolution for DHS. Passage was briefly delayed by a hold placed by SenatorLindsey Graham, who opposed repeal of a provision allowing senators to sue over phone records collected during theArctic Frost investigation, and the lack of full-year DHS appropriations. Graham removed the hold in return for votes on legislation to criminalize refusal of state and local officials to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and to expand eligibility of those investigated byJack Smith to sue the Department of Justice.[11][12] On January 30, the bill passed the Senate 71–29.[13]
After passing the Senate, Speaker of HouseMike Johnson said the House would not take up the bill until Monday, February 2, 2026 and pointed to House's requirement that text be available 72 hours before a vote.[14][15] As a result, Office of Management and Budget said they would begin shutdown procedures at midnight on Saturday, January 31, when funding ran out.[16]
Mike Johnson announced that he would look to pass the bill through asuspension of the rules, which would have meant that a two-thirds majority is needed to pass bills (“fast-tracking”), but avoids a separate rule vote to allow consideration of the bill. This would have needed at least 72 Democrats to vote with Republicans (if all Republicans voted for our). However, on Saturday, January 31, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries informed Johnson that Democrats would not provide the votes to pass the bill under fast-track. The vote to end the shutdown was pushed to Tuesday, February 3.[17][18]
Democratic House Minority LeaderHakeem Jeffries did not endorse the agreement. DemocratGreg Casar of Texas, chair of theCongressional Progressive Caucus, announced his opposition to the package. Other Democrats, includingSteny Hoyer andJim Clyburn, who both formerly were members of Democratic House leadership, andNew Democrat Coalition ChairBrad Schneider, endorsed the package.[19] RepublicansAnna Paulina Luna of Florida andTim Burchett of Tennessee, fiscal conservatives, threatened to oppose the bill if it was not coupled withlegislation to require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.[20][21][19]
The first procedural step to pass the bill in the House occurred with a vote in theHouse Rules Committee on February 2, 2026.
DemocratChristian Menefee, who was elected in aspecial election on Saturday, January 31, was sworn in on Monday. This reduced the Republican majority in the House to 218–214, meaning that Republicans can only afford to lose one vote on party-line votes.[19]
After a meeting with the White House on Monday, RepublicansAnna Paulina Luna andTim Burchett announced they would support the procedural rule vote after receiving assurances that the Senate would 'modify the fillibuster' to pass legislation to require voter ID and prevent non-citizens from voting.[22] Though Republican Senate Majority LeaderJohn Thune, the next day, denied that the Senate had agreed to modify the fillibuster.[23] Later on Monday,House Rules Committee voted along party lines to advance the legislation to the House floor.[24]
Prior to the procedural rule vote, and after Senator Thune denied a fillibuster agreement was in place, RepublicanJohn Rose of Tennessee called on Republicans to "hold the line" and vote against the rule because it did not include the SAVE Act.[25] Initially, Rose would vote against the rule, along with RepublicanThomas Massie, with all Democrats. RepublicansAndy Ogles,Byron Donalds,Victoria Spartz andTroy Nehls withheld their votes and were seen talking to Republican House leadership on the floor.[26] However, after a 50 minute vote, all the Republican holdouts except Massie voted for the rule.[27]
On Tuesday, February 3, the House concurred with the Senate's amendment on the funding bill. The vote was 217–214 with 21 Republicans voting against and 21 Democrats voting for the bill with one Republican abstention. President Trump signed the bill the same day.[28][18]
Agencies affected by the shutdown include the Departments ofState,Treasury,Defense (except functions listed below),Transportation,Housing and Urban Development,Health and Human Services,Labor,Education, andHomeland Security, as well as theExecutive Office of the President, several independent agencies, and theJudicial Branch.[29]
Agencies not affected are the Departments ofVeterans Affairs,Agriculture,Interior,Commerce,Justice, andEnergy; some functions of Defense (water development activities of theArmy Corps of Engineers and military construction); some independent agencies including theEnvironmental Protection Agency,NASA, andNational Science Foundation; and theLegislative Branch.[30]
TheFederal Emergency Management Agency had a fund of about $7–8 billion to continue responding to disaster and weather response, including theJanuary 30–February 1, 2026 United States winter storm. However, other FEMA operations, like National Flood Insurance Program policies, shut down.[31]
10,000Federal Aviation Administration workers were furloughed as a result of the shutdown. In addition, air traffic controllers continued to work without pay.[32]
About 8,000 of all 27,000 direct-hire State Department employees were furloughed as a result of the shutdown. Essential State Department services, including passport and visa services, along with the operation of embassies and consulates continued. Other services, such nonemergency consular notifications and website updates, were shut down.[31]
TheInternal Revenue Service (IRS) used money appropriated through the 2022Inflation Reduction Act to avoid furloughs; the funding would have lasted until February 7 if the shutdown had lasted that long.[33]
The continuing resolution for the Department of Homeland Security lasted through February 13, and negotiations about reforms to federal immigration enforcement were expected to occur.[34] Congressional Democrats proposed several reforms to be included in the funding legislation, notably that federal agents:[35]
Congressional Republicans criticized the list as excessive, and that it would add unnecessary bureaucracy and endanger federal agents, although some said there was room for compromise. Republicans also make counterproposals to prevent harassment of federal agents, and to require local governments to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.[35]
On Thursday, February 12, Democrats blocked a second two-week continuing resolution. Both the House and Senate then left Washington for a scheduled one-weekrecess. This essentially guaranteed there would be no vote to avert a shutdown before funding runs at 12:01 a.m. ET on February 14. If a deal were to have been reached during the recess, the Senate was on 24-hour notice to return while the House was on 48-hour notice.[36][37]
A second shutdown affecting only theDepartment of Homeland Security began on February 14, 2026.[38]
The initial effects of a DHS shutdown were expected to initially be limited. The three immigration agencies—Immigration and Customs Enforcement,Customs and Border Protection, andCitizenship and Immigration Services—only receive 60% of their funding from annual appropriations, with the remainder coming frommandatory funding, fees, and from the 2025One Big Beautiful Bill Act. TheFederal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief fund was expected to last 1–2 months, and theCoast Guard has funds to pay nearly 70,000 essential workers and active-duty members for several months. However,Transportation Security Administration employees would begin missing full paychecks in mid-March 2026, leading to the possibility ofwalkouts.[39]
