The government shutdown is a challenging situation that can have a wide-ranging impact on various sectors of the economy, as well as the public.
Government teacher Elise Iddings explained what a government shutdown is.
“A government shutdown happens when the government does not meet their yearly deadline to pass a budget,” Iddings said.
During a government shut down, federal agencies and programs deemed non essential may be put on hold. The shutdown can also impact services such as national parks and passport processing.
“[Services] like suspension of things like welfare, sometimes food stamps, and things like National parks and Zoos, sometimes even the DC metro [are] suspended until this budget is passed,” Iddings said.
In addition, Iddings added that the government needs to make the tough decision by October 1, which is the start of the Fiscal New year.
“The shutdown was supposed to start on Sunday, October 1. We saw that they passed a 45 day extension on November 15,” Iddings said. “We’ll see whether or not they manage to pass a budget by then, it’s not looking likely right now.”
Iddings explained the importance of the government’s decision to elect a new speaker of the house, in order to pass a budget, ending the government shutdown.
“I have a lot of friends who work for the federal government who are going to go on furlough,” Iddings said. “I have a lot of distant family who work for the federal government who would also go on furlough.”
Iddings described how people who live in Northern Virginia get impacted the most by shutdowns.
“We get hit hardest by shutdowns,harder than most other people in other states just because so many people here are connected to the federal government,” Iddings said.