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Deja Vu: A Look Back At The Last Shutdowns, In Photos

By Abbey Oldham

Published September 27, 2013 at 10:52 AM EDT

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U.S. Park Service Police Officer P.G. Carroll stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the federal government shutdown in November 1995. ()

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House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks with President Clinton and others aboard Air Force One as the plane headed for Israel and the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Nov. 5. Gingrich has said that the president slighted him during the flight, which helped prompt the partial shutdown of the federal government. ()

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A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange rests his head, on Nov. 13. Uncertainty about the impending government shutdown pushed down stock prices that day. ()

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People form a line on 5th Avenue extending around the corner as they wait for the U.S. Passport Office to open in New York's Rockefeller Center, Nov. 13. With the clock ticking toward a midnight shutdown, President Clinton vetoed a temporary borrowing bill and prepared to close most government operations. ()

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President Clinton orders the shutdown of nonessential government services on Nov. 14, after failing to reach a budget compromise with Congress. ()

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Mike Fetters attaches a sign to a door of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington on Nov. 14. ()

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Tourists board the ferry, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, after being asked to leave Liberty Island in New York Harbor on Nov. 14. ()

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With Philadelphia's Independence Hall in the background, Park Service employee Matt Ifill gathers up the poles that surround the Liberty Bell at closing time on Dec. 13. With many government services scheduled to close down at midnight, Ifill and other workers there planned to report to work but were uncertain as to what they would do. ()

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House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., holds a "closed" sign outside the National Gallery of Art on Dec. 18 as another partial shutdown of the federal government began. Joining Livingston were Rep. Ralph Regula (left), R-Ohio; Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y.; Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.; and Lewis' press aide Dave LesStrang. ()

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Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, dumps out coal, which he called a Christmas gift to President Clinton, during a Dec. 21 Capitol Hill news conference. The White House and congressional Republicans labored to restart balanced budget talks. ()

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Dave Glass (right), a federal government computer assistant, and about 100 other furloughed Social Security Administration workers gather at the Arthur J. Altmeyer Building in Woodlawn, Md., on Dec. 26, to protest the temporary government shutdown. ()

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The first visitors in three weeks view Yosemite Valley in California on Jan. 6, 1996. President Clinton signed Republican-crafted legislation to restore jobs and pay 750,000 government workers, while he and Congress negotiated how to balance the federal budget. ()

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With the Capitol in the background, a lone pedestrian waits for a ride on Pennsylvania Avenue as snow falls on Jan. 8. That winter storm paralyzed the city and closed the federal government, just two days after it reopened. ()

With the possibility of a federal government shutdown looming on the horizon, we decided to take a look back in photographs at the last time the government closed its doors.

On Nov. 13, 1995, with a midnight shutdown almost inevitable, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped due to lack of confidence in the U.S. government. People flocked to passport offices, not knowing the next time they would be able to get one.

The next day, President Clinton announced that the federal government would be shuttered, suspending operations across a variety of agencies, including national parks and national museums.

Congress enacted a temporary spending bill five days later, but the relief only lasted a little over three weeks — another shutdown took place between Dec. 16 and Jan. 6, 1996.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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