Now entering its fourth week, the current United States government shutdown is the second longest in American history. The Senate Democrats have rejected the Republicans spending bill proposal and have effectively shut down the government. Republicans and Democrats are still showing no signs of reaching a resolution, and the effects are starting to be felt around the United States.
On Oct. 1, lawmakers in Congress were unable to agree on a funding bill for the government, effectively shutting it down for the 21st time. The government, like a business, needs money to run properly. If Congress can’t agree on where to spend the money by the end of the fiscal year, which was Oct. 1, the government essentially has no money it can use. The downside of this is without that spending bill, the government’s money can’t be directed to paying federal employees or funding government programs.
“My mom is a civilian for the U.S. coast guard, so she’s currently furloughed,” stated PPCHS senior Jocelyn Roldan. “For us, it’s mainly the worry of when she will be able to return [to work]. It’s been super stressful because everything has been so insecure, so we never know truly when our lives may return to normal.”
All attempts to negotiate have failed, with both parties having their own idea of a spending bill. The Senate Republicans already proposed a bill, H.R.5371, that would fund the government until Nov. 21. This would give Congress an extra month to debate which policies to include in the spending bill. This means the government doesn’t have to shut down during negotiations, but instead could still be funded and therefore continue to run. H.R.5371 passed with 217 to 212 votes in the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate. The Senate Republicans’ bill has been voted on 13 times after the shutdown, and each vote failed to pass.
After the shutdown commenced, Senate Democrats pushed passing their own resolution, called S. 2882. Their proposal would continue funding the government till Oct. 31, but included different policy demands like rolling back Medicaid cuts and repealing health care provisions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The effects of this spending clash are quite visible, with air traffic control towers being closed down and thousands of federal employees being told to not come to work. However, with these two opposite proposals, each party is sticking strongly to their bill.
“The parties have to work together and find an agreement to end it,” states PPCHS senior Ryan Perez. “There are thousands of federal employees who can’t bring food to the table, and the Democrats [are] being selfish by not putting the American people first, including the hard working federal employees keeping the government running. Pass the funding, then go back to debating the policies.”
The effects of the government shutdown are starting to affect the lives of both federal workers and common citizens alike, putting even more pressure on Senate Democrats and Republicans to come to a compromise.
