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Fact check: How long did the 2018-2019 US government shutdown last (start and end dates)?
Executive Summary
The 2018–2019 U.S. federal government shutdown began on December 22, 2018 and ended on January 25, 2019, lasting 35 days, which made it the longest shutdown in modern U.S. history. Multiple contemporary and retrospective accounts agree on these start and end dates and on the 35‑day duration, though some summaries and brief reports occasionally cited a 34‑day count or round numbers; the prevailing, widely sourced figure is 35 days [1] [2].
1. Why those specific dates matter — The record-setting stoppage that reshaped the debate
The shutdown’s December 22, 2018 start date corresponds to the lapse of appropriations when Congress failed to pass or extend funding bills before the holiday recess, and the January 25, 2019 end date reflects the date when a funding deal was enacted to reopen most federal operations, setting the formal bounds of the shutdown period as reported in contemporaneous coverage and timeline summaries. Multiple sources that document the event in real time and in retrospective charts identify those two calendar dates as the official boundaries, and calculate the duration as 35 days, explicitly noting its status as the longest federal shutdown to that point [2] [1]. Some explainer pieces and charts published later rounded or misstated the day count as 34 in passing, but the mainstream accounts that document the legislative actions and executive statements align on the December 22 to January 25 interval [3].
2. How the 35-day figure is calculated — Counting conventions and occasional discrepancies
The 35‑day duration comes from inclusive counting of the consecutive days between December 22, 2018 and January 25, 2019, which most news organizations and encyclopedic summaries adopt when defining the shutdown window; that method yields 35 full days of partial or total federal funding lapse [1] [2]. Variations to a 34‑day figure arise when outlets apply different conventions — for example, counting only full 24‑hour periods, excluding one endpoint, or summarizing in brief headlines — and these editorial choices produce minor discrepancies in casual references [3]. The dominant reporting and the historical record reflected in government and mainstream media timelines consistently use the 35‑day measure, and that number is repeated across multiple independent accounts and retrospective charts [4] [5].
3. What multiple sources said at the time — Contemporaneous confirmation of the timeline
Contemporary reporting at the time the shutdown ended explicitly marked January 25, 2019 as the day the government reopened after a 35‑day lapse, and those contemporaneous pieces framed the stoppage as the longest in U.S. history, noting the December 22 start during the holiday season and the protracted negotiations over border wall funding that prolonged the impasse [2]. Retrospective summaries and encyclopedic entries compiled after the fact repeated the same dates and duration, consolidating the timeline for researchers and the public; these follow‑up sources cite legislative actions, presidential statements, and appropriations measures to anchor the start and end points [1]. A 2025 charting of shutdown history reiterated the 35‑day benchmark while using the episode as a reference point for comparing subsequent funding standoffs [4].
4. Alternate framings and why they appear — Media shorthand versus formal counting
Some articles and explainers listed the shutdown at 34 days or used rounded figures when summarizing shutdown history, a product of editorial shorthand, different counting conventions, and headline compression, not substantive disagreement about the events themselves; this produces occasional conflicting day counts in secondary sources and quick recaps [3]. The authoritative timeline entries and detailed reporting that document the legislative and administrative milestones consistently use the December 22 to January 25 timeframe and the 35‑day length, which is the accepted benchmark for comparisons and official references [1] [2]. When seeking precision, rely on sources that list legislative actions and the signed continuing resolution dates rather than brief charts or social posts that may truncate or round the interval [5].
5. Bottom line for researchers and readers — Use the 35‑day benchmark, cite dates
For factual citation and historical comparison, treat December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 as the shutdown period and 35 days as the duration; that framing is supported by contemporaneous reporting and multiple retrospective summaries and is the convention used in detailed timelines [2] [1]. When encountering alternate day counts, note the likely cause as counting convention or summarization rather than substantive disagreement, and prefer primary timeline accounts and legislative records for definitive references. This consolidated view offers a stable reference point for analysis of impacts, policymaking lessons, and comparisons with later funding standoffs [4] [5].