by Tyler Conley

In the United States, a government shutdown occurs when Congress cannot reach a deal to pass a funding bill before the deadline. After the deadline, the government shuts down, and some federal employees are laid off, while others work without pay. 

This may not seem detrimental to students and families, but the 2025 Government Shutdown, the longest ever at 43 days, put a hold on many necessities. 

The Trump Administration planned for mass firings, despite the illegality in doing so, mainly for governmental positions; the firings were planned to be permanent even after the shutdown ends. Over 900,000 federal employees were laid off, and another 2 million worked for 43 days without pay. The Trump Administration stated their goal was to downsize the government and cut costs, but what isn’t taken into consideration is that many families lost their only income.

The government also funds food programs, such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), commonly known as food stamps. These programs are protected by contingency plans, but those become strained in later stages of a government shutdown, and even afterwards. Benefits do not come back immediately.

On Oct. 24, Brooke Rollins, The U.S Secretary of Agriculture, claimed in a memo circulated through the Department of Agriculture, that the contingency funds for SNAP are for natural disasters and not for government shutdowns. This put over 42 million Americans at risk of losing their benefits during the shutdown.

National school lunch and breakfast programs will suffer a similar fate, as they are on contingency plans as well. This will affect anyone who needs government assistance for food, and will leave many families hungry through any shutdown.

“A shutdown is more than just a disagreement on funding. It’s an emergency that needs proper attention and action taken.”

In addition to SNAP losing funding, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children will also be in trouble, even with the attempts from the Trump Administration to keep it afloat. This will put over 7 million pregnant women and new mothers in danger of not being able to feed their infants and buy necessities for their families.

The longer a shutdown lasts, the more programs that the nation relies on will fall. The Trump administration did the bare minimum to keep funds for necessary programs, and flat out refused to work with Democrats to fix this issue. They also didn’t tap into contingency funds to help keep food aid for millions of families. 

A shutdown is more than just a disagreement on funding. It’s an emergency that needs proper attention and action taken. Some people live off the programs that were and still are currently at stake, and as President, Trump needed to address the issue before it’s too late.

The Trump Administration came to an agreement to pay active military personnel, but still did not find a way to feed people who cannot eat. The priorities of the Trump Administration do not align with the problems that we as people are facing. 

I personally have family members who work in government who are struggling financially because they had to work without pay. Making people work normal hours and maintain the same level of integrity even while receiving nothing in return is disrespectful.

Even after the government shutdown has ended, the aftermath still lingers. SNAP funding is slowly making a return, but not in a timely fashion. Funding is still going to suffer long-term and families will still experience issues at the end of the year.

Republicans claimed that the shutdown is due to democrats wanting to protest against republicans instead of making a compromise with them. This is simply just false. Now that an agreement has been reached to end the shutdown, it’s very clear that the democrats were being as cooperative as possible without hurting the needs of families. 

Republicans planned on cutting funding for certain programs, including health care. They say the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act should not be tied to the immediate funding bill, and should be discussed later. However, Democrats were not being uncooperative as a power play. This was a move to try and save millions of families and give them the life they deserve.