What happened when the longest US government shutdown in history finally ended in 2025?

The answer

In 2025, the United States experienced the longest government shutdown in its history, surpassing the previous 35-day record set in 2018-2019. During the shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal employees were furloughed or forced to work without pay. National parks operated with skeleton crews, tax refund processing was delayed, food safety inspections were reduced, and scientific research projects were disrupted. The shutdown was ultimately resolved through bipartisan negotiations, but its economic impact was estimated in the billions of dollars, and it highlighted the vulnerability of critical government services to political gridlock. Economists noted that each week of shutdown reduced quarterly GDP growth by approximately 0.1 percentage points.