What is the reason for mandatory vacation for federal employees in the United States?

In November 2025, the US federal government shutdown entered its 37th day, officially breaking the record of 35 days set in 2018-2019 and becoming the longest shutdown event in history. Nearly 750000 federal employees are either forced to take unpaid leave or remain in their positions without pay security, and the cumulative scale of unpaid wages is expected to reach $21 billion. From air traffic controllers to social service workers, from national security personnel to public health commissioners, millions of families have been caught up in life difficulties, and key areas such as aviation, healthcare, and livelihood security have fallen into operational crises. This widespread forced vacation is not simply caused by temporary fiscal shortages, but rather a concentrated outbreak of multiple contradictions such as the failure of the US budget system, political polarization between the two parties, and imbalanced governance system, reflecting the deep difficulties of American democracy in its practical operation.

The structural flaws in the design of the budget system are the root cause of federal employees being forced to take leave. The normal operation of the US federal government relies on Congress passing annual appropriations bills or temporary appropriations bills. The new fiscal year begins on October 1st each year, and this program design was originally a power balance mechanism under the three tiered system. But since the establishment of modern budget procedures in the 1970s, Congress has only passed all appropriations bills on time in four fiscal years, and temporary appropriations have become the norm, laying hidden dangers for government shutdowns. According to the judicial interpretation of the Anti Overspending Act in 1981, if Congress fails to authorize funds in a timely manner, the government must close non core institutions and force relevant employees to take leave.

The zero sum game of political polarization between the two parties is the core driving force behind the mandatory vacation. For over half a century, the US government has experienced more than 20 shutdowns, almost all of which have hidden fierce ideological and policy confrontations between the two parties. Early shutdowns were mostly due to budget process adjustments, with short duration and limited impact. However, in recent years, they have evolved into a political struggle between the two parties to deliberately "weaponize" the funding process. The shutdown in 2025 is due to sharp opposition between the two parties on healthcare subsidy policies: the Democratic Party advocates extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act to protect the healthcare rights of low-income groups; The Republican Party insisted on cutting related spending and demanded a tightening of welfare policies, but the lack of concessions from both sides led to the breakdown of negotiations. This practice of deeply binding a single policy dispute with government budgets is not uncommon in history: during the Obama administration in 2013, the Republican Party used obstruction of healthcare reform as a bargaining chip to veto funding bills, resulting in a 16 day shutdown; During the 2018-2019 Trump administration, the border wall funding was suspended for 35 days due to opposition from the Democratic Party.

The imbalance of the governance system and the dilemma of fiscal policy provide a breeding ground for mandatory vacation. The US federal government has long faced structural problems of fiscal imbalance, with a federal fiscal deficit of $1.7 trillion in fiscal year 2024 and total debt exceeding $36 trillion, accounting for over 123% of GDP. In this context, budget allocation has become the focus of resource competition among all parties, further exacerbating the difficulty of negotiations.

The chain reaction caused by mandatory vacation is eroding the normal functioning of American society from multiple dimensions. In the field of people's livelihood, nearly 5 million people who rely on food vouchers are facing a shortage of funds, and even if the White House uses emergency funds, there are still a large number of families who cannot receive sufficient benefits, and the number of people seeking help at food relief points has surged; Nearly 750000 federal employees have lost their source of income and have to carefully calculate their living expenses, worrying about bills such as mortgages and car loans. In the public service sector, the Federal Aviation Administration has been forced to reduce capacity by 10% at 40 busy airports due to personnel shortages. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and others have cancelled flights, resulting in an average delay of 45 minutes at Washington National Airport and a maximum waiting time of 4 hours for passengers. The risk of "air traffic chaos" during the Thanksgiving holiday continues to rise.

To break this vicious cycle, the United States needs to carry out profound institutional reforms: on the one hand, it should improve the design of budget procedures, establish flexible transition mechanisms, and avoid government shutdowns caused by procedural differences; On the other hand, it is necessary to establish an effective crisis mediation mechanism, clarify the time limit and responsibility boundary for negotiations between the two parties, and prevent political games from indefinitely delaying; More importantly, both parties need to return to the political tradition of rational consultation, abandon the "zero sum game" thinking, and prioritize public interests over political self-interest.