In 2023, America got dangerously close to shutting down the national government when Congress was not able to agree on new financial legislation before the yearly deadline. Luckily, the deadline was extended, but if they cannot agree on the new budget before November 17th, the government will close its doors until they do.

On September 30th, 2023, as the end of the month approached, America rushed to find a solution that would keep the government open. But why did they need to? How can the government be shut down?

A government shutdown occurs when financial legislation isn’t signed by Congress before the old laws expire. The use of government money needs to be agreed on before the start of the new fiscal year, October 1st, or the government will have to shut down.

Government shutdowns don’t happen often. America has only experienced 10 in its history, with all of them dating after the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 gave deadlines for federal budgets. These shutdowns are usually very short, spanning from 1 day to the 34-day shutdown in 2018 regarding Mexican border protection.

No matter how long the government is shut down, it is still devastating for the country. When a shutdown occurs, most federal workers are out of a job for its duration, and Americans cannot access the services they provide. During a shutdown, all medical and scientific research, access to national parks, tax collection, educational aid, food and housing assistance, security reviews, and even some forms of transportation are halted. Regardless of the shutdown status, disaster response units remain open, as well as federal and supreme courts, law enforcement, military forces, mail distribution, border patrol, and services like Medicaid, Medicare, and disability/retirement packages. When a financial compromise occurs, federal workers resume work and receive paychecks for the time they had off. According to Greg Defoe, superintendent of the ADM school district, a government shutdown would likely not affect the way that public schools are run.

“We receive 98 or 99% of our money from local and state sources, so a federal government shutdown wouldn’t have an impact on us.” 

On September 30th, Congress narrowly avoided a shutdown by signing a temporary funding bill, which kept the current financial legislation in effect. This was sent off to President Biden and signed mere hours before its due date. Congress now has until November 17th to agree on the budget, or a national shutdown will begin.