(Image via AP News)
Staff Editor: Gwen Pichette
Email: gpichette@umassd.edu
The federal shutdown drags into its fourth week with no end in sight. The shutdown began at the very beginning of the month on October 1st after lawmakers deadlocked and missed the deadline for government funding.
Why are lawmakers in a stalemate?
Democrats are resolute in addressing health care concerns before agreeing to a funding plan, wanting to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies that make health insurance premiums more affordable for millions of Americans. They want to reverse nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s package of tax breaks as well as spending reductions.
Republicans want to discuss the possibility of extending the subsidies after an agreement is reached and support a short-term measure that would fund the government through Nov. 21. The seven-week bill aims to provide more time to reach a longer agreement for 2026.
October 22nd and 23rd were the latest votes on the matter that could have potentially ended the shutdown. But the Senate failed to reach the 60 votes needed to extend the funding into next month for the 12th time.
What happens during a shutdown?
When there is a halt to government funding, agencies must furlough (temporarily relieve) their “non-expected” employees without pay. Expected employees, on the other hand, must continue to work and only receive pay after the shutdown ends.
The Impacts of the Shutdown
The Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the shutdown’s impact looks grim, with nearly 750,000 federal employees expected to be furloughed each day of the shutdown, and a daily cost of their compensation expected to reach a whopping $400 million.
A court filing from October 10th revealed that more than 4,000 federal employees were given lay off notices across various departments, the most being from the Department of Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services.
As mass layoffs continue, many are concerned as President Trump stated he would specifically target workers that were aligned with the Democratic party in retaliation to the shutdown.
“It’ll be a lot of people. I must tell you, a lot of them happen to be Democrat oriented,” he mentioned.
To Democrats, he threatened to cause “irreversible” damage. Trump said of them, “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them. Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”
Several notable Republican Senators have opposed President Trump’s statements, including Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
In a post on X, Murkowski said, “The termination of federal employees in a shutdown will further hurt hard-working Americans who have dedicated their lives to public service and jeopardize agency missions once we finally re-open the government.”
Murkowski also expressed that the stalemate was a result of an immense “lack of trust” between parties:
If you’re a Democrat, you’re looking at it and you say, ‘Why? Why am I going to try to be helpful if Mr. Vought at OMB is just going to do a back-door move and rescind what we’ve been working on?’ There’s a lack of trust. Does it make it harder to come to terms on hard things like a government shutdown? Absolutely.
Senator Murkowski is referring to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought who has been “involved in rescission packages aimed at clawing back funding appropriated by Congress,” which is a controversial tactic used to decline spending funds approved by Congress.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters that the country is”barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history.”
The longest shutdown was during President Trump’s first term and lasted just over a month, from December 22nd, 2018 to January 25th, 2019. That shutdown was related to conflict over a southern border wall lasting 35 days, while this shutdown enters its fourth week.
The longer the government remains shutdown, the more the public is at risk. The costs of health insurance premiums loom to rise for millions of Americans, and federal safety nets like SNAP/Food Stamps will not be distributed beginning November 1st.
And these issues stand while Trump has secured private funding to place a ballroom in the East Wing of the capitol building.
Both Democrats and Republicans continue to dig their heels in, and neither side shows any sign of budging any time soon.