At this point in time, we are now just over two weeks into the twenty-first government shutdown since 1977 in America. The word “shutdown” seems scary to the American public, but what I have found is that not many people know what a government shutdown really is. A government shutdown is when employees of the federal government in “non-essential” jobs either work without pay or are simply out of work because Congress does not have the money to pay its workers. Jobs in Social Security and airport TSA will stay up with pay, but things like national park services and federally funded public museums face questions about their operation. 

A federal government shutdown affects the regular population in many ways by shutting down many government agencies. Military personnel and other essential operations will remain open but without proper pay. But, many Americans will either be out of jobs or in a significant pay cut. 

The shutdown started weeks ago because of a dispute in Congress over a bill that is funding government services into October and the rest of fall. In the U.S. government, it is necessary that each branch come to an agreement on the spending plan before it can become official. Though the Republicans do hold the power in both chambers of Congress, they fall 60 votes short in the Senate, which gives the Democrats some wiggle room. Democrats are working to expense higher taxes on the elite in order to decrease the price of health insurance for American families. 

On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a spending bill for the 9th time. This bill would have put a plan in place until November 21st. This has put government workers into a continued spiral of emotions. Workers remain scared and worried as their checks say “with back pay,” but they cannot seem to find the state of mind to trust or believe that as the shutdown continues to drag on.