The night of November 14, 1995 was supposed to be a victory for the Republican-controlled Congress. After passing a budget that would fund the government and decrease government spending, the Republicans felt confident that they averted a shutdown. However, that was not the case. By the time the budget made its way to the desk of Democratic president Bill Clinton, Clinton refused to sign the bill to fund the government. By refusing to sign the budget, parts of the government shut down. This led to protests by government employees, since they were not given their paychecks from the government.
Clinton wanted to increase funds for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and preserving the environment.1 The Republicans, though, wanted the opposite. By refusing to increase funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and preserving the environment, Clinton vetoed the budget and held negotiations to reach a compromise. However, Clinton had an issue with one of the Republican leaders he was meeting with, House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Before the shutdown, Clinton and Gingrich attended the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister of Israel. During the flight, Gingrich was told to sit at the back of the plane. It was perceived by others that Gingrich tried to use the shutdown as a form of vengeance against President Clinton. Although Gingrich felt angry at Clinton for the event on the flight, it did not affect the ongoing negotiations. After holding talks with Congress for five days, Congress passed a continuing resolution, which kept the government funded until December. Clinton signed the resolution on November 19, 1995, ending the five-day shutdown. After the resolution was signed, Congress was in a race against time to prevent another shutdown. Gingrich, however, thought to use this time to bash the President. During this period, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich voiced his disagreements with President Clinton on the budget. By doing this, Gingrich made a tactical mistake by appearing too eager to shut down the government again.2 On December 16, 1995, Congress wanted to pass a second continuing resolution to give themselves more time to put the budget together. Clinton soon vetoed the resolution, thus sending the government into another shutdown. Both Congress and President Clinton found themselves back at the drawing board again.
President Clinton and Congress met on December 29, 1995, to compromise on a budget. During this time, the country was getting ready for the presidential elections. Republicans sought to use this shutdown as a weapon against Clinton’s failed policies. The negotiations continued until January 1996. On January 5, 1996, protests had erupted outside the Capitol. Government workers were demanding the end of the government shutdown, so they could get paid. Republicans held a press conference about the negotiations. They argued that they were trying to reduce government spending on federal programs, whereas Clinton wanted to increase spending for those programs. In some sense, Republicans thought that the amount of federal spending was one of the bones they had to pick with Clinton.3 By January 6, 1996, a compromise was met and President Clinton agreed to sign the budget bill, thus ending the twenty-one-day shutdown.
Although the shutdown was over, there were some benefits for both political parties. The Democrats and the Republicans made some gains after the 1996 presidential election. Democrats gained a few seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans, on the other hand, gained two seats in the Senate and kept control of Congress. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, however, had his political reputation damaged because of the disagreements with President Clinton over the budget. President Clinton’s job approval ratings were generally above the 50% mark after the shutdown in 1996 and he cruised to a re-election victory over his Republican opponent, Senator Bob Dole, in the fall of that year.4
- David J. Maraniss, The First Term. In Presidents: A Reference History (Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2002), 626. ↵
- Kessler Glenn, “The Fact Checker: Lessons from the government shutdown of 1995-96,” The Washington Post no.1 (February 2011): 1. ↵
- George F. Will, “Republicans as Red Sox: The 1995 government shutdown reduced the importance of GOP control of Congress,” Newsweek no. 1 (October 1998): 92. ↵
- Frank Newport, “More in U.S. Say Shutdown Is About Politics Than Principle,” Gallup Poll Briefing no. 1 (2013): 1. ↵
58 comments
Benjamin Arreguin
The article itself was very informative about what really happens during a government shutdown, the politicians involved, as well as how the people are affected. The article shows how quick things can happen during the process of making decisions that will affect the nation, regardless how slow we might think it actually takes. This shows some transparency of our former leaders to show that they’re human too, and we all go through conflict. Clinton was a character, but I can respect his strength for standing in what he believes in and not budging on the budget.
Cheyanne Redman
The idea of the government shutting down is such a crazy concept, and I fear that with todays government is on the verge of doing so. I like how the author presented very factual information regarding the shutdown and that it told the story from both sides rather than siding with any particular party. I feel that this article does a very good job at showing how corrupt it is, by stressing that the politicians will literally go to the measures of actually shutting the government down to get what they want instead of listening to what the people want.
Monica Avila
The government is very complex and abstract in how its actually carries out proceeding, so when it shut downs, many Americans are taken aback. The fact that drama between President Clinton and House Speaker Gingrich was a cause of the shutdown baffled me because so many jobs were put out of pay due to “vengeance” for being placed in the back of a plane. The government has shut down three times in my lifetime and it is still strange to even comprehend what the shutdown entails.
Vanessa Tombo
This article was very well structured and brought light to an event many people might not have known about in great detail. This article demonstrated the power that a president has over a bill and how easily a vetoing of a bill can cause the government to go into a shutdown. The bill can be revised by both parties in play until they each agree that the bill is fair enough to be passed. The negotiations took 21 days before Clinton agreed to pass the bill. This article was short but packed with very interesting information and was pleasant to read.
Nathan Hudson
This is interesting because just recently our government shut down as well. These shutdowns can throw everything for a loop which is why it is so important to keep them from happening, but nobody can help it when the president does not get a long with someone. Sometimes things need to stop to be evaluated and that can lead to positive progress, so maybe not all shutdowns are bad.
Arianna Kennet
This was a very informative article about the shutdown of 96. It was very descriptive describing the drama and turns within the shutdown. I have now witnessed two government shutdown one under president Obama in 2013 and one under president Trump in 2018. What i have found similar in all three of these cases is the government being shutdown depends deeply on the unity between the executive and legislative branches. In 2013 President Obama was under a Senate and House controlled by republicans which made it difficult for them to get a budget passed due to the fundamental difference in ideal ology in how the government budget should be. With President Trump, he has a republican controlled senate and house however he has 100% opposition with democrats and a few republicans. The republicans have a very slim majority in both the house and the senate meaning ever vote counts. All in all, the unity is what keeps the government open.
Brandon Martinez
With the government shut down for a couple of days not to long ago it was interesting to learn about a previous time it occurred. It is interesting to learn what can happen when the government does shut down and to learn the consequences. A shutdown is a rare occurrence, but as the article and recent history has shown it can occur. This article is only about one shutdown and it is different from the others, and it was great to read about this one.
Anthony Robledo
This was a great article. It’s great to see someone write about previous government shutdowns, since they are popular now. I feel like every other day the media is talking about a possible shutdown. Great use of images! The political cartoon with the giant baby is hilarious. Can you believe just how much is restricted when the government shuts down. When it happen this year, it almost left troops without the capability of watching the Superbowl. We need to solve issues like this and what better way then to reflect on the past.
Christopher Martinez
This article is a very important piece and I believe is done perfect, politics/government is very important for many to understand. Due to imbalances of power amongst a house prominently republican and with a president who identifies as a democratic leads to many issues and always never seems to work out as hoped too. This system is a big problem in our society same as how we appoint supreme court justices as well for life, but this one is more consistent at times but we always will have a one sided court due to odd numbers to help break ties. This article shows the true nature of how government works at times and at times is compared to having two stubborn kids arguing over something until their forced to meet a compromise.
Regina De La Parra
This article was very informative and very well researched. I knew about the government shutdowns but because I am from Mexico, I never fully experienced. I find it very interesting how this is caused because of a conflict between the parties and how it can leave hundreds of people without getting paid until a decision is made. This article not only explained the government shutdown during 1995. Great article Michael!