<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> From October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014 nor a continuing resolution for the interim authorization of appropriations for fiscal year 2014 was enacted in time . Regular government operations resumed October 17 after an interim appropriations bill was signed into law . </P> <P> During the shutdown, approximately 800,000 federal employees were indefinitely furloughed, and another 1.3 million were required to report to work without known payment dates . Only those government services deemed "excepted" under the Antideficiency Act were continued; and only those employees deemed "excepted" continued to report to work . The previous U.S. federal government shutdown was in 1995--96 . The 16 - day - long shutdown of October 2013 was the third - longest government shutdown in U.S. history, after the 18 - day shutdown in 1978 and the 21 - day 1995--96 shutdown . </P>

When was the last time the government did not approve a budget