At 12:01 on October 1, 2025, the US government shut down because of a disagreement in Congress on a plan for the money the country spends in October and looking forward. Now, several government services have been cancelled, and thousands of federal workers have been furloughed(see more information about this below).
What is a government shutdown?
A government shutdown is when a bill to fund government services is not signed and operations in the government are forced to stop running. It can happen when the bill is rejected by the president, or, such as in the most recent case, unable to pass Congress because of a disagreement. During a government shutdown, non-essential government services are shut down and the employees are either put on unpaid leave or laid off, and essential workers will continue to work without pay.
How does a government shutdown affect the American people?
There are two classifications of federal workers: essential workers that are considered crucial to the government(FBI workers, ICE employees, ATC or Air Traffic Controllers, Social Security and Medicare staff, border protection agents, etc.) and non-essential workers(DOJ or Department of Justice workers, HHS or Human Health Services workers, employees of the EPA or Environmental Protection Agency, and more). Non-essential workers will be furloughed, or put on unpaid leave for the duration of the shutdown, and essential workers will have to continue working without pay. A government shutdown also means heavier taxes on the American people to reopen the government.
What’s going to happen next?
Right now, it’s hard to tell when the shutdown will end. For the government to reopen, the two parties will have to come to an agreement or compromise on the funding issue. Trump has made plans to lay off large numbers of federal workers if the shutdown isn’t resolved soon.
Cites-
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/politics/adelita-grijalva-house-epstein.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrj1znp0pyo
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article312515820.html
https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-States-Capitol
https://www.arisechicago.org/essential_vs_non_essential
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/policy-topics/democracy-governance/explainer-why-government-shutdowns-keep
