NPR Politics

How government shutdowns became so common and so disruptive

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published September 30, 2025 at 9:35 AM MDT

The government started to shut down in the 1980s, and by the 1990s, it had become a feature of a gridlocked Washington.

We discuss how we got here with historian Julian Zelizer.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.