On Oct. 1, 2025, the U.S. government shut down because Congress was unable to decide on appropriation bills for federal organizations and agencies for the 2026 fiscal year. This left many Americans confused and concerned about the state of the government.
The Senate requires 60 of 100 votes in order for a spending bill to be approved, and a simple majority in both the Senate and House. Due to the complications of approving a spending bill, Congress decides to follow through with a Continuing Resolution (CR), which is a temporary spending bill that allows the members of Congress and the president to finalize the bill entirely.
Because Republicans hold a majority in Congress, they decided to alter the CR to get rid of the Affordable Care Act subsidy, which is financial assistance from the federal government that makes health insurance more affordable. Democrats could not allow this to happen, since it went against their political beliefs.
FHS US Government teacher Geoff Beckstrom discusses the situation in his own class.
“I think just to summarize, the government shutting down did lend additional energy to the idea that it’s not really working in the common interests of people. Rather, most of the way our government works has been captured by special interests,” Beckstrom said. “There’s a term for that in US government called regulatory capture, and I do cover it.”
Some of these upcoming funds include payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This program feeds nearly 42 million people in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. SNAP is run by the states; because SNAP did not receive appropriate benefits in payments, the states warned that the October and November benefits would be delayed and even stopped completely.
Additionally, not only were the food supply funds deteriorating, but so were the funds for paying government workers. There were three different types of government workers during the shutdown. Furloughed workers are those who work for the government who did not have to work during the shutdown, but were expected to work as soon as the shutdown ended. Around 700,000 federal employees were furloughed, meaning that they were going through stress and financial uncertainty. Some government employees were required to report and perform their usual duties during the shutdown, without receiving any pay until it was resolved. Employees who were on active duty in the military or specific veterans-affairs department would be paid as usual because their salaries do not come from the annually approved appropriations that were affected by the shutdown, according to the Federal News Network.
After all of the deliberations and “tug of war,” the shutdown was finally resolved. The finalized budget consists of reversed layoffs, paying back federal workers, and only extended benefits like SNAP, through Sep. 2026. It includes funding for most federal agencies until late Jan. 2026. However, the health insurance subsidies were cut, a decision Democrats did not favour.
The shutdown ended on Nov. 15, 2025. This was the longest shutdown in the nation’s history, lasting 43 days. It caused uncertainty throughout the United States regarding food and healthcare programs, federal employment and the unreliability between the two parties.
