News Feature: The Causes and Effects of the US Government Shutdown

By Justin McCarthy-Hill on Jan 22

These past four weeks, the US government has been involved in something called a government shutdown. This is when the president orders all funds to stop going through to the government when he and the other two branches of government cannot agree on where they should allocate funds. Our current shutdown is the longest in American history by almost two weeks so far. In mid-December, the president issued an executive order demanding funds for the wall on the US border with Mexico. Congress did not approve the 5.6 billion dollar budget item, resulting in the shutdown.

Because funds have stopped, many governmental agencies and federally funded services have been negatively impacted and closed down for the time being. Because they are considered “essential” employees, many government workers have still had to go to work on a regular basis without pay, damaging the lives of their families and endangering their ability to stay in their homes. These employees cannot resign from their jobs, because this would cause them to lose their benefits and the pension funds they have acquired. Recently, state governors have been seeking unemployment benefits for their federal government workers, which should aid the situation of imbalance that was caused by the stoppage of funds.

This past weekend, the third annual Women’s Marches occurred all across the US. This year, though, the usual protest signs were joined by a new crop of phrases and quotes centered around the shutdown. Numerous famous landmarks, including the National Parks and Monuments, not just in Washington, D.C. but across the country, have temporarily closed because of the lack of government funding. I had the opportunity to travel to D.C. and observe the effects this shutdown has had on operations. All Smithsonian Museums are closed, along with the National Zoo. College and graduate students doing internships at government-funded locations like the Smithsonian may not be able to graduate on time without the internship credits. Companies that have contracts with the federal government may have to start laying workers off because the companies themselves are not making money. The employees of this company will also not receive back pay because they are not government employees.

The monetary imbalance resulting from the lack of profit is beginning to have effects on the economy. A booming economy is something President Trump has been very proud of ever since he entered office. The Democrats in Congress hope that the president will see these effects and move to end the shutdown. Regardless of party, it is important that the two sides start working together and resolve this conflict.