Why Did The Government Shut Down

The United States federal government entered a shutdown on October 1, 2013, suspending discretionary services deemed “non-essential” by the Antideficiency Act. As a result of the government’s failure to enact a budget or continuing resolution for the 2014 fiscal year, appropriations have lapsed and approximately 800,000 federal employees have been indefinitely furloughed without pay, while a further 1.3 million “essential” employees are required to report to work indefinitely but will not be paid until a budget is passed. This is the first U.S. federal government shutdown since the shutdown of 1995 and 1996. The United States federal government has shut down on 18 occasions since 1976, although only the shutdown of 1995–96 both involved the entire federal government and lasted longer than four days.