At 12:01 AM on Oct. 1 , The U.S. federal government shut down after Congress failed to negotiate funding legislation before the deadline of the new fiscal year. This marks the first shutdown since 2019.
If the government is unable to pass a budget before the new fiscal year, it goes into shutdown until one can be approved. This shut down results in high necessity jobs and programs such as airplane traffic controllers, military and first responders working with delayed pay and about 750,000 federal employees furloughed, or on unpaid leave. However, workers are guaranteed back pay after the shut down is resolved according to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019.
“I don’t like my pay being held hostage while the government fights over separate issues,” federal meteorologist Randall said in a post on BBC’s shutdown live reporting feed. “Keeping the National Weather Service funded is something both parties typically agree on so why am I facing sudden loss of funds because Congress is fighting over healthcare or whatever?”
The main dispute centers around disagreements over health care. Democratic representatives are fighting for the Medicaid cuts implemented earlier this year to be reversed and Affordable Care Act subsidies extended, while Republican representatives are focused on reducing costs and producing a short-term bill with no extra provisions. However, the lack of transparency has led to confusion surrounding the policies being debated, which is reflected in a creeping sense of dread among individuals like senior Maddie Serene.
“I don’t know what this means, because it’s such a broad thing to happen,” Serene said. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Most likely a bad thing.”
Free State government teacher Jeff Haas said the shut down isn’t just a temporary inconvenience, but also a marker of wider issues in the government at large.
“To me, it’s revealing a substantial amount of dysfunction in our government,” Hass said. “We’re a complex society, so we expect a lot from the government, and sometimes I feel like we need to put the mirror on ourselves as a society. People don’t like to think that they’re part of the issue.”
Several government representatives have spoken publicly about the shutdown, but an official end date remains unclear.
