The partial federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1, 2025 and lasted 43 days resulted in hundreds of thousands of civil servants being furloughed at agencies across the government, disrupting a wide range of important programs and services provided to individuals, communities, businesses and states throughout the country. A record-setting shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security followed just months later, wreaking havoc on air travel, straining national security resources and impeding disaster relief efforts.
While employees involved in public safety, national security and other areas of the government remained on the job, civil servants handling important government functions dealing with public health, consumer protection, the environment, scientific research and so much more have been sidelined during these government shutdowns, now the longest in U.S. history.
In an effort to document the real-life impact of this shutdown, the Partnership for Public Service launched this website as part of our Federal Harms Tracker series. The Cost of the Shutdown features curated news stories describing the harm caused by the disruption or halting of vital services provided by the government.
These budget standoffs come at a particularly perilous time for our country, one in which the Trump administration had already adversely affected the operations of our government through workforce cuts of more than 200,000 federal employees and through firings and a deferred resignation program, with the total workforce reductions reaching 271,000 by February of 2026.
The stories included below demonstrate the many ways that our federal government and federal employees make our nation safer, stronger, healthier and more prosperous, and the harm that occurs when their work is abruptly halted.