Government Shutdown?

 

Avoiding a shutdown

According to Brookings, on October 1st congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown with minutes to spare. To do this, congress passed a stopgap spending bill. This funds all federal agency by how much it was funded last year. However, this only last for 45 days. 

What happens during a shutdown

During a shutdown, many federal employees do not report to work. Essential employees like air traffic controllers will still report to work according to Brookings.  Brookings notes that government shutdown has a very low affect on the economy. They state that during the five week partial government shutdown in 2018 and 2019 11 billion dollars were lost for the GDP. This was mostly federal workers pay and delayed government spending. 

What the people think

According to a Axios poll 65% of democratic voters and 45% of republican voters believe that a government shutdown will affect them. 68% of respondents stated that a government shutdown will make them lose trust in the government. If federal workers cannot report to work, this will obviously affect them. Regardless if a government shutdown will actually affect people, it will have political consequences. This is definitely an issue everyone needs to watch out for in the future.