Photo by: Mark Wilson
In a nutshell, a full-blown government shutdown is when non-essential discretionary federal programs close down until further notice. On January 20th, President Trump called for the shutdown when Congress failed to come up with appropriate funding, but when funds don’t balance themselves out or are nonexistent, Congress is essentially forced to continue their search on finding a funding resolution. That money has to come from somewhere. However, if Congress can’t agree on a funding resolution, a complete shutdown is inevitable. And to us common people, that signals an entire breakdown of the government’s budgeting process. Even though the shutdown was recently made known, we won’t feel the effects of it until Monday when federal government offices reopen.
That being said, this doesn’t necessarily mean that every federally funded organization, company, or service will cease to carry out their duties. However, people who happen to work for agencies and companies deemed nonessential will have no choice but to stop working until Congress comes up with a decent federal budgeting bill that the majority can agree on.
So, what does this mean for essential programs like our military? It should be noted that during a shutdown all branches of the military are expected to report for duty, just as they would on any other day. But this elicits the potential problem of troops not being paid, including those locked in combative services. If the shutdown lasts for more than two weeks, roughly 1.3 million active duty military servicemen and women will be forced to give their services for free.
For regular civilians, this means that any planned vacations to national parks, zoo’s, and museums would have to be rescheduled since they would be closed until further notice. Since gun permits are federally operated, trying to buy one is also out of the equation. Air traffic will continue to stay open and funded, even though some of the employees won’t be getting paid for their time and hard work. The most ironic thing is that even though Congress essentially created this shutdown by not coming to terms with each other, they still get their paychecks since it’s the law.
The fact that the government shut down over something like budget control has a nasty impact on those who hold nonessential federally funded jobs. The shutdown, if anything, should be looked at as the peak of procrastination and how that trickles down to hardworking Americans. The shutdown isn’t something to be alarmed about since for many of us, our days will continue and end just like any other. But for those who have to work without pay, we as a country can only hope that Congressmen and Congresswomen come to an agreement. Quickly.