Students and their families are still dealing with the consequences of the longest government shutdown in history.
The shutdown began Dec. 22 after Congress and President Donald Trump disagreed on an appropriations bill to fund government operations or on a continuing resolution to extend the deadline for passing the bill. The disagreement came after Trump said he would not sign any bill that didn’t include $5.7 billion to fund a wall along the U.S. Mexico border.
A partial shutdown means essential government operations such as Transportation Security Administration continue, but without pay. While federal government employees were not paid during the shutdown, those who worked will receive back pay, and some furloughed employees will receive compensation for days they would have worked.
Onnika Hanson, acting senior, said her father, who works for the Department of Interior, was forced to use his vacation days and will not be paid back for the days he couldn’t work.
“Since my dad is retired, he’s on a contracting schedule, so my dad was using his vacation time,” Hanson said. “First, he was using his paid vacation time, but then he had to use his non-paid vacation time, so, at this point, he has no vacation time for the rest of the year, and unlike other government workers, he will not get paid back for a single day that he did not work. Luckily, he’s back now, but we’ll see what happens in three weeks.”
Trump said in a Jan. 25 speech that he agreed to sign a stopgap bill that would reopen the government so negotiations on the appropriations bill could continue. This decision came after federal government employees missed their second paychecks, and all flights in and out of LaGuardia Airport in New York, the 20th busiest airport in the country, were shut down due to staff shortages.
“If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down on Feb. 15 again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” Trump said in the speech.
The shutdown is still affecting the country. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the economy lost $11 billion, national parks and other protected areas were not patrolled and the National Hurricane Center was unable to conduct the first two of their three training programs to prepare officials in hurricane-prone areas and may have to cancel the third.
Cate Kurtz, history/English junior, said she and her family were affected by the shutdown in October 2013.
“There’s a sense of fear and dread that circulates among families because you don’t know how you’re going to pay bills, you can’t celebrate holidays with your families,” Kurtz said. “It kind of impedes on the American dream.”
Kurtz said these kinds of governmental issues dramatically affect citizens directly.
“My family put everything on credit cards, and we had to pay it off for months after,” she said. “The process of trying to provide for the country in the future has a negative effect on those living there now.”
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