As the government shutdown occurred earlier this week, on October 1st, you might be asking yourself: why does the government shutdown happen, and what does it mean for me? Now, to quickly cross a few things off, the phrase “government shutdown” might sound scary and terrible, and although it isn’t pleasant by any means, it isn’t some economical collapse or fall of America. In fact, we’ve seen this happen before.
A government shutdown most recently took place in 2019, and it’ll most definitely happen again sometime in the future. So disregard any fear mongering, and know that it’s a part of our congressional process.
What causes a government shutdown?
Shutdowns happen when the Congress, consisting of Democrats and Republicans, fail to pass the yearly budget for the federal government. This particular shutdown was caused when the Democrats and Republicans in the Senate could not pass a temporary spending bill that would require 60 votes before the fiscal deadline of September 30th.
There are 12 appropriate bills that Congress and the President need to pass for the yearly budget. Lots of times prior, Congress will have continuing resolutions, which is a measure to give the government a temporary period of spending instead of passing the bill before the deadline. Congress can also pass other types of legislation to continue spending, such as packages. Now, Congress rarely follows the steadfast past of passing all 12 bills on the set deadline, but shutdowns are a failure to pass any type of legislation regarding federal spending.
What happens when the government shuts down?
The services deemed as essential will continue, such as ICE and First Responders. Benefits, like Medicare and social security, will also continue. Most federal employees will go without pay during this period, and federal departments and agencies will furlough many of their employees during this time.
Some employees will still report to work, but agencies and departments, like the CDC, will not operate at their prior capacity. Our military will continue as normal, just with some services disturbed at the moment. Many of the less essential features of the agencies and departments, such as hiring and safety inspections, will have ceased; nothing under the federal pay will be at its full scope.
The shutdown has essentially slowed and halted our government in various aspects, but all emergencies and urgent means will still be met. The average person, someone who doesn’t work for the federal government, will not be immediately impacted. You might have slower travel times, and national parks will be without employees. The impact you might feel though is that of social services, such as WIC and SNAP, which may run out of funding prior to Congress passing any further fiscal legislation.
Why is this a controversy?
This shutdown occurred in response to the Democrats and Republicans not seeing eye-to-eye on various issues, especially relating to the topic of healthcare. The Democrats want to reverse the cuts to medicare, and continue a service that makes health insurance cheaper. Republicans oppose that. President Trump is also actively involved, and he is talking about firing federal employees. The Senate has failed to pass any temporary spending, after meeting for the third time.
The shutdown will continue for the foreseeable future, but stay tuned for updates here at Lions Roar Now.
