What is a government shutdown and why did it happen in the US?

During the 35 -day partial closure of Trump’s early period, about 340,000 of the 800,000 federal workers in the affected agencies were removed. The rest were “except ve and needed to work.

These workers continue to provide the services that the government considers important to the police and public security. These fundamental employees work free of charge until the closure is over.

In 2019, after the government was financed again, the Congress enacted a law that guaranteed that fur federal workers would receive repayment.

Phillip Swagel, Director of the Congress Budget Office, has no major impact on the economy of a short closure, especially because it is paid back to federal workers backwards according to laws.

But if a closure continues, this may lead to uncertainties about the role of the government in our society and the financial impact on all programs in which the government provides funding. ”

Which government services end in closing?

The most striking disruptions are the closure of national parking facilities and the Smithsonian museums in Washington and the delays in processing passport and visa applications.

The supervision of financial trade markets and complaints of civil rights in the workplace are expected to stop investigations. Economic reports from the workers and trade departments can be postponed depending on the closure time. In case of a closure, the Ministry of Treasury said that most basic tax functions will be paused, ie the taxpayer phone calls will remain unanswered and repayments for non -filed refunds will not be processed.

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Each federal agency develops its own emergency plan for closure. Plans summarize which agency workers will stay during the closure of a government and which ones will escape.

In a provocative movement, the White House’s administrative and budget office (OMB) threatened the mass ignition of federal workers in case of closure. An OMB note said that non-financing programs in Trump’s mega-invit will carry the burden of a closure.

Which government functions are not affected?

Military operations, air traffic control, medical care of veterans and federal criminal investigations are among the main activities. US military personnel would work, but without paying. In the closure of 2019, air traffic controllers threatened to go out after working without paying a monthly fee – an improvement that accelerates the end of the closure.

The US Postal Service and the Federal Reserve have its own financing flows, so they are not largely affected.

What happens to government payments?

Authorization programs such as social security and medicare are considered compulsory expenditures, ie they do not need annual allowances to continue to distribute money. This does not mean that such programs are not guaranteed. According to a responsible Federal Budget Committee, during a closure in 1996, even if social security checks continued to emerge, the personnel who discussed demands for new records and new social security cards or address demands for new social security cards were initially removed ”.

Why is this happening now?

The US Federal Government is financed by the 12 “appropriation invoices en spent by the Congress every year and signed by the President. In the financial years such as the beginning, when all of the 12 invoices are not accepted according to the beginning of October 1 year, it is zero for those who keep the government murmuring machines by passing the short-term expansion of existing financing known as the ongoing decisions (CR), especially ongoing decisions (CR).

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If they do not agree on a CR, the government has things called financing gaps, and it may have to take steps to close federal agencies. For the financial year of 2025, the congress passed three such temporary financing patch and the last one came in March.

Now, as the last date of October 1 is approaching, the congress faces another stance on government financing.

The Parliament, led by the Republic, will expand the financing until November 21st, but the bill needs the support of at least eight democrats to pass through the Senate.

Democratic leaders insist on the inclusion of health services lacking from the Republican Leading Draft Law: A extension of the Premium appropriate Maintenance Law (ACA) subsidies, which will end at the end of the year, and the reversal of the interruptions in the financing of Medicaid, which entered into force early this year. They also want new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s ability to refuse to spend money allocated by the congress.

Congress leaders did not show a sign of an agreement on a short -term spending bill during the meeting with Trump on September 29th. Trump showed that he did not want to compromise the democrats and threatened to permanently firing federal workers if the government closed.

How many times this happened?

Since 1981, there have been 14 closure since 1981, which has been closed in 2018-2019 until 35 days. (Before 1981, the agencies were often operating normally during financing gaps, and the costs were covered backward after an agreement was reached).)

The closures on expenditure disagreements are different from what happens when they violate the US debt ceiling and default some of their obligations (and less serious). Although the US approached in 2023, it never happened.

Bloomberg, AP

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