How Shutdowns Became a Political Weapon

They used to be rare. What changed?

In the middle of the 1995 holiday season, something unprecedented happened in the US: the government shut down. With a Republican-led Congress and a Democratic president at odds, for 21 days, funding for everyday federal functions lapsed. At a time when many federal workers had planned to spend their salaries on holiday gifts, instead more than 200,000 …