The Government Shutdown
In this article, Melanie discusses the government shutdown, including its causes and impact.
Embedded Files
What to Know About the Government Shutdown
What to Know About the Government Shutdown
By: Melanie Campbell
By: Melanie Campbell
The federal government experienced a shutdown on Oct. 1, 2025. As of Oct. 24, it has not reopened, and has been shut down for over three weeks. A shutdown occurs when the government fails to provide funding to a part of the government. This is the result of Republican and Democratic politicians failing to settle a budget dispute. This means some government services are shut down and, according to the BBC, as of Oct.11, 40 percent of the federal workforce is on unpaid leave. The House-passed Republican budget bill failed to move forward on a 54/45 vote out of the 3/5 majority necessary, as stated by The Hill. Senate Democrats shut down this spending bill, and attached a counteroffer including healthcare provisions and restricting President Trump’s ability to cut funding lasting through Oct., which Republicans shut down.
Picture of U.S. Capitol Building. Image from National Geographic Education.
The government shutdown was over a spending issue, but the details are more complex. To summarize, this issue is a partisan argument over if and when lawmakers need to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. This means that 1.4 million federal employees are working without payment, as stated by the BBC. It has also created uncertainty for some federal programs.
Government employees deemed unessential were furloughed, thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed because of the shortage of air traffic controllers, and several agencies, such as the CDC, have been furloughing their workers. Many federal workers are worried about losing benefits like health insurance and are questioning their ability to cover housing needs. According to Reuters, labor unions have been threatening to sue due to these layoffs. Lastly, several monuments and national parks have been closed. This is becoming evident in the lack of staff in national parks, leading to the consequences of poor maintenance. According to the National Parks Conservation Association, some of these consequences include overfilled trash cans, overflowing toilets, visitor services shutting down, and the postponing of maintenance projects, leaving the parks vulnerable to vandalism and illegal camping.
As both sides fail and come to a stalemate, Trump has been following through with his initial threats to cut down the size of the government in the weeks following the government shutdown. According to CBS, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, claimed to one C-SPAN caller expressing their frustration about active military not getting their paycheck that “The Democrats are the ones that are preventing you from getting a check.” Trump claims he identified funds to ensure the military gets paid, as stated by NPR.
Picture of soldier. Image from U.S. Army
Now that the government has been shut down for over 20 days, people have been starting to experience the effects. Without any foreseen solutions for this issue, there have been severe negative effects on the federal government. According to Politico, this includes the furloughing of millions, as well as the administration trying to fire thousands of workers, with Republican Congress members claiming it is part of the fallout from the shutdown. According to NBC News, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass. said in a recent Fox News interview: “Shutdowns are terrible. Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have."
This government shutdown has continued into late Oct. People are beginning to see the effects through the delayed services, closure of national parks and museums, as well as economic decisions. The severity of the impact only increases with duration, and there seems to be no close resolution.
Page updated
Report abuse