The ongoing U.S. government shutdown, triggered by a budget standoff between Republicans and Democrats, has disrupted key services, furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers, and poses growing economic and political risks the longer it continues.
The U.S. government shutdown continues after Republicans and Democrats once again failed to reach an agreement on how to settle a budget dispute.
As a result, some federal services are temporarily halted, and around 40% of government employees — roughly 750,000 people — have been placed on unpaid leave.
While budget standoffs are a regular feature of American politics, this particular clash is especially intense. President Donald Trump has significantly reduced the size of the federal government since taking office and has hinted that he may use the current deadlock to push for additional spending cuts.
The shutdown occurred because Republicans and Democrats were unable to agree on a bill to fund government operations beyond the start of October.
In the U.S. political system, all branches of government must reach a consensus on spending plans before they can become law.
Republicans currently hold a majority in both chambers of Congress. However, in the Senate — the upper chamber — they lack the 60 votes required to pass the spending bill, giving Democrats leverage in negotiations.
Democrats are pushing for an extension of tax credits that help make health insurance more affordable for millions of Americans, as well as a reversal of President Donald Trump’s cuts to Medicaid — a federal healthcare program that supports millions of elderly, disabled, and low-income citizens. They also oppose further reductions to funding for public health agencies.
Although the House of Representatives — the lower chamber — approved a temporary funding bill meant to prevent a shutdown, the measure failed to pass in the Senate.
As a result, at 00:01 EDT on 1 October (04:01 GMT), the U.S. government entered its first shutdown in nearly seven years.
Not every part of the government shuts down during a funding lapse. Essential services continue to operate, though in many cases employees are required to work without pay until the suspension ends.
Border security officers, law enforcement personnel, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and hospital-based medical staff are among those expected to keep working.
However, the aviation sector has been heavily affected. Thousands of flights have been cancelled or delayed due to a shortage of air traffic controllers, who must also remain on duty without pay. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said many employees have called in sick, and staffing levels have at times fallen to around 50% in some regions.
Payments from Social Security and Medicare are still being issued, but services like benefit verification and card processing may be paused.
Federal employees classified as “non-essential” have been furloughed — placed on temporary unpaid leave. Contractors who work for government agencies but are not directly employed by them are also missing out on pay.
Major agencies, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health, have furloughed large portions of their staff, disrupting ongoing research.
Additionally, several programs and institutions, such as the federal food assistance program, government-funded preschools, and Smithsonian Institution museums, have scaled back operations or shut down entirely.
National Park Service announced that its 433 sites will stay partially open during the shutdown, though visitor services and facilities will be significantly limited as more than half of its staff have been placed on leave.
In the last government shutdown between December 2018 and January 2019, national parks remained open without staff supervision, resulting in incidents of vandalism and looting at several historic sites.
Mail delivery continues uninterrupted, and post offices remain open because United States Postal Service operates independently of congressional funding.
Most schools in the U.S. are funded at the state level, but the federal government provides billions of dollars in grants and student loans — a flow of funding that could be disrupted. However, since most grants are issued during the summer, schools are expected to be largely unaffected by this particular shutdown, according to the education secretary.
Meanwhile, members of Congress will continue to receive their salaries, a practice that has drawn criticism from some lawmakers.
In the past, prolonged government shutdowns have often been viewed as politically risky, disrupting daily life for voters and damaging the reputations of both lawmakers and the president.
Typically, once shutdowns ended, federal operations resumed as normal: employees received back pay for missed work, and government spending returned to prior levels.
This time, however, the White House seems willing to keep much of the government closed for an extended period. Over the last nine months, the Trump administration has made deep spending cuts and dismissed significant numbers of federal employees, pushing the limits of presidential authority.
Officials have suggested they may use the shutdown as an opportunity to identify additional “non-essential” workers who could be permanently laid off.
“We’ll be laying off a lot of people,” President Donald Trump said on 30 September, a day before the shutdown began.
The administration has also warned that furloughed employees might not receive back pay once the shutdown is over. On 7 October, Trump told reporters that whether workers receive their unpaid salaries “depends on who we’re talking about,” adding that some “don’t deserve to be taken care of.”
Many lawmakers have condemned this stance, including Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, who stated: “The law is clear — every single furloughed federal employee is entitled to back pay, period.”
Trump’s comments came a day after the Senate failed for the fifth time to approve spending measures that would reopen the government. Neither the Republican nor Democratic proposals secured enough votes to pass.
It’s hard to predict how long this shutdown will last. Much depends on whether — or when — either party is willing to compromise.
Republicans could choose to negotiate an extension of the healthcare subsidies that Democrats are demanding.
Alternatively, the disruption caused by the shutdown might grow so severe that Democrats feel pressured to temporarily approve funding in order to get the government running again.
So far, the Trump administration has shown little interest in making meaningful concessions. It believes Democrats will ultimately shoulder most of the public’s blame, arguing that their demands triggered the shutdown.
Democrats, on the other hand, are confident that their push to make healthcare more affordable has strong public support.
Earlier this year, some left-wing activists criticized the party’s congressional leadership for backing down during the March budget standoff. Now, many Democrats appear more determined to stand firm — and government funding negotiations remain one of the few areas where they have real leverage.
The scale of the impact will depend largely on how long the shutdown lasts and how extensive it becomes.
Economists estimate that each week of the shutdown could reduce economic growth by about 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points. Much of that loss, however, could be recovered once the government reopens, as has been the case after previous shutdowns.
This relatively modest short-term effect may explain why financial markets appear to be largely unfazed by the current situation.
However, if President Donald Trump decides to lay off workers instead of simply furloughing them, or if a significant number of employees go unpaid, the economic consequences could be far more severe.
The U.S. economy is already feeling the strain of Trump’s tariffs, and expected delays in key economic data — such as the official monthly jobs report — are likely to add to overall uncertainty.
Shutdowns over budgets are a unique aspect of US politics.
They have become quite common over the past 50 years - with three taking place during Trump's first presidential term.
The last shutdown which began in late December 2018 lasted 35 days - the longest in history.
It was brought about by disagreements over funding a wall on the Mexico border.
It finally ended in part because large numbers of air traffic controllers, who had been working for a month without pay, began calling in sick, as has started to happen during the current shutdown.
At the time, flight disruptions spread rapidly, and the shutdown ended soon after.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 2018–2019 shutdown reduced economic output by approximately $11 billion, with around $3 billion of that permanently lost.
Government shutdowns, however, are not unique to President Donald Trump’s time in office.
The second-longest shutdown on record lasted 21 days during the presidency of Bill Clinton in 1995. Barack Obama experienced a 16-day shutdown while in the White House, and Ronald Reagan oversaw eight brief shutdowns during the 1980s.
