US Government Faced Its Longest Shutdown

As of Oct. 16th, the federal government of the United States remains in a shutdown that began on October 1, following the fact that Congress failed to pass the legislation establishing a spending plan needed for the new year. This stalemate of congress has caused massive disruption across the entire federal government. As Government teacher Lawrence Lange puts it, “Without a passed budget we do not know who and where the money will be distributed.”

As a result of the shutdown, around 900,000 federal employees have been put on suspension temporarily, while another 700,000 are forced to work unpaid. Essential services like the army continue to occur, though most employees are receiving minimal to no pay for their efforts. All non-essential services like national parks or museums are stopped for the time being, meaning” departments and agencies cannot perform all the duties that are required to provide the services the American people rely on everyday,” according to Lange. Disagreements between the Republicans and Democrats were focused on federal expenditure, global aid, and the increase of healthcare coverage under the Affordable Care Act. None of the spending bills, including the proposed $852 billion defense budget, have been approved by the Senate due to a lack of bipartisan support.

The economic effects of the shutdown are already being shown. The shutdown is reportedly costing the country $15 billion a day according to officials, while other experts caution that slow federal services can hinder business and public investment. One program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), remains funded through October, yet its future in the next few months is in danger. And thus, local and state governments have begun making preparations for the chance that certain federal programs would be eliminated completely. Shutdowns enable us to see how the inability of Congress to broker an agreement on funding made it clear that the deep party divisions existed and that there was no thought behind the consequences of not passing the needed legislation

The nation's reaction to the shutdown has been overwhelmingly negative, with an October 9–13 AP-NORC survey determining that 89% of voting Americans view the shutdown as a problem, over half viewing it as a major problem. No one is blamed for it, however, with President Trump, Republicans, and Democrats all being blamed equally by the public.

For an average high schooler, however, most have a drastically different viewpoint. For Sara Ben Ali (11), the shutdown isn’t something she’s too concerned about. “I was oblivious that it even happened,” she explained. Yet, that doesn’t mean she was immune to the effect of the shutdown. She stated, ”When I was looking for scholarships, I’ve been finding out were shut down of in fear of being discontinued.” Due to this uncertainty about whether scholarships will have enough funding, many students are continuing to be affected by this shutdown

Since there are still ongoing negotiations between parties, the majority of federal workers wait for a potential resolution. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has stated that the shutdown could persist well into November if there is no agreement, so these few weeks could prove to be crucial in determining how soon the government will be able to resume business and how it will restore its workforce and public services back to normal.

As of Nov. 12, the shutdown has ended and a republican-backed bill slimly passes through.

Photo by Khanh Do | Ms. Badithe's Economics class keep track of days of government shutdown.