before trump declared the national emergency, the united states had experienced a federal government shutdown, which ran from midnight est on december 22, 2018, until january 25, 2019 (35 days). it was the longest u.s. government shutdown in history. it occurred when the united states congress and president could not agree on an appropriations bill to fund the operations of the federal government for the 2019 fiscal year. the shutdown affected about one-fourth of government activities. it caused around 800,000 employees and 1 million federal contractors to be furloughed or obligated to work without pay. the shutdown was estimated by the congressional budget office to cost the united states economy at least $11 billion.