When America was closed for 43 days, know why the wheel of the world’s most powerful country had stopped:

News India Live, Digital Desk: Imagine that one day you wake up and find out that the government of your country has stopped working. Government offices are locked and lakhs of employees do not know when their next salary will come. This is not a story, but the reality that America has faced. The longest government shutdown in the country’s history lasted for 43 days, bringing the world’s largest economy to a halt.

Ultimately, the impasse ended on November 12, 2025, when both chambers of the US Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate – passed a funding bill to get the government running again. With the signature of President Donald Trump on this bill, the government work which had been closed for 43 days could be resumed.

But, why did all this happen?

The root of this entire crisis was the lack of political consensus on the budget required to run the government. The biggest issue of controversy was the ‘Affordable Care Act’ (ACA), also known as ‘Obamacare’. Under this law, millions of Americans are given subsidies (tax breaks) to help them purchase health insurance. The Democratic Party wanted to continue these subsidies, while the Republican Party was not in favor of it. Due to this tussle, the budget could not be passed and the government had to close its doors, which is called ‘shutdown’.

What happened to the common people?

This fight of leaders had a direct and worst impact on the common American citizens and the country’s economy.

• Lakhs of employees are in distress: About 6,50,000 government employees were sent on forced leave (furlough) without pay. At the same time, about 6,00,000 employees associated with essential services were forced to work without salary.
• Shock worth billions to the economy: According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the last major shutdown in 2018-19 cost the US economy $11 billion. This time too the loss figure is estimated to be in billions.
• Services stopped: Thousands of flights were either canceled or delayed for hours due to the lack of essential staff such as air traffic controllers at the airport. It also affected about 4 crore 20 lakh people dependent on food assistance programs.

How was the solution found?

After weeks of uncertainty and under the pressure of increasing public concerns, a temporary agreement was finally agreed upon between the two parties. Parliament passed a bill that will provide funding for most government departments to operate until January 30. The biggest thing about this bill was that it guaranteed to give their stalled salary (back pay) to all the employees affected by the shutdown, after which lakhs of families heaved a sigh of relief.