Two months into this year, and two partial government shutdowns have already left employees unpaid, caused economic disruptions across the country, and left people with unanswered questions.
Throughout the last week of January, Congress was unable to come to an agreement about the funding for certain government agencies. The partial shutdown started Friday, Jan. 31 because Congress was unable to pass 6 of the 12 appropriations bills by a deadline of 11:59 p.m. that night.
Democrats blocked the funding package due to differences between the two parties on certain policies. The Democrats wanted to make changes to current ICE and immigration policies, especially after the incidents in Minnesota where federal agents were responsible for the shooting of two U.S. citizens. The Senate was able to pass the bills that would keep most of the government funded, but the House of Representatives wasn’t able to come to a consensus about this, and thus started the partial shutdown.
The government workforce is affected by the shutdown. A number of people who work for the departments that are shut down are either not working or working without pay. The shutdown also slows down the work that employees are doing, making it harder to finish tasks. “My deadlines are not met, my projects get stalled, and we cannot provide services to the public,” FEMA Knowledge Management Officer Shruti Jain, the writer’s mother, said.
Shutting down the government can cause issues for workers and for government efficiency across the board. Employees get furloughed and are not allowed to work, which affects government agencies as well as jobs around the country. “It is very disruptive to the economy because it can affect critical government functions,” Sitara Energy founder Rakesh Puram, the writer’s father, said.
Due to government shutdowns being ineffective for the economy and employees, there are a number of ways that politicians can prevent these shutdowns. Congress can pass the 12 bills that fund the government agencies; they can assume longer budget cycles so that negotiations aren’t so frequent; and there is a recently suggested idea that holds back the pay for lawmakers if they can’t pass the budgets in time. “There will always be differing opinions in Congress but for this nation to move forward there needs to be a middle ground to be found between the different political ideologies,” AP Psychology and U.S. History teacher Jennifer Bauer said.
The government departments that were shut down include the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Department of Transportation and certain agencies within the Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security. According to the New York Times, “This shutdown — even if it lasts longer than Tuesday — will be less sweeping in its impact than the last one.”
The partial shutdown ended on Feb. 3, four days after it started, with the House coming to an agreement and passing the bill that put the government agencies back to work.
Just 11 days after the previous shutdown ended, a new one started, the second partial shutdown of 2026. This time, however, it is only affecting the Department of Homeland Security. This new shutdown has furloughed employees but there are still people who are working without pay.
It’s been a week since the second shutdown started, and as of now, the Senate is in session but the Capitol standoff continues, with issues unresolved. According to Politico, “with talks going slowly, there’s no expectation that a deal to end the partial shutdown is reached this week.”
