evidence: Unless Congress acts soon, the federal government will shut down. Again. [...] In the past four decades, the government has shut down 20 times. There were some shutdowns in the 1970s that lasted more than a week, but subsequent ones were pretty short until 1995, when then-President Bill Clinton faced off against a Republican House and Senate that led to two shutdowns for a total of 26 days. [...] Federal government shutdown could have tough consequences on Americans