On Oct. 1, 12:01 p.m., the U.S. Government shut down.
The last time the government shut down was in 2018 and 2019 under the Trump Administration, and it was the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, lasting 35 days until Congress was able to come to a budget agreement. Although many officials estimate that this will be a shorter shutdown, there is no way for us to entirely anticipate what the shutdown will entail (Gov. Shutdowns Live Updates, CNBC).
However, we should start from the fundamentals of a shutdown: what it is and how we got here.
“A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass funding for some or all agencies, which can’t spend money that hasn’t been approved by lawmakers,” (What is a Government Shutdown, CBS News).
So, every year, the United States Congress has to pass a certain number of bills in order to fund government agencies, programs, and operations. If these bills aren’t passed by the deadline, there’s no funding available for those programs, leading to non-essential government services being shut down, with nearly a quarter of all federal employees being furloughed—temporary suspension without pay—as a result of the shutdown.
The essential services that remain do so without pay. Meaning that thousands of people go unpaid and are unable to provide for themselves or their families until the shutdown ends.
The agencies that continue to work without pay include, but aren’t limited to: federal law enforcement, national security, border security, air travel security, and emergency responders. Some other government agencies also pull from private funding, such as the U.S. Postal Service, meaning they can continue operating during a shutdown.
So, how did we get to this point?
There will always be an almost McCarthyism-esque blaming sequence with every shutdown; the Republicans blame the Democrats, and the Democrats blame the Republicans, but it’s not always easy to name one party or person that is entirely at fault. There can be benefits to a certain party delaying the passing of bills, such as prolonging negotiations in hopes that a more beneficial outcome can be achieved with mounting pressures of a looming shutdown.
Most often, the culprit of a shutdown is the inability of our two-party system government to reach across the aisle and come up with a compromise that benefits both parties.
Currently, the Republican Party has control of the Senate and a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, meaning they hold control over both houses of Congress.
Often, a government shutdown can seem inconsequential to people not directly affected by the furloughs or agencies shut down, but this inability to work out the budget isn’t just on a federal level, but is reflected in state and local governments as well.
Michigan is also currently in a stalemate, with the budget deadline having been missed. The difference between Michigan and the federal government, however, is that Michigan’s state government worked together to pass a bill allowing for a week of continuation of budget negotiations and narrowly avoiding a state government shutdown.
This is the first time in 16 years that a constitutional deadline has been missed in Michigan; however, the stopgap spending bill has allowed government functions to continue.
If the Michigan government fails to reach an agreement by the new Oct. 8 deadline and no other extensions are given, a partial government shutdown will occur.
The immediate consequences of this missed deadline would affect Michigan residents across the state, with all federal construction coming to a halt, including road work and highway projects, no federal funding for free school lunch programs across the state, and delayed payments for anyone relying on government assistance.
With the federal government having been shut down and the looming threat of a state shutdown as well, we can only hope that both parties will find a way to work together for the good of the country.
