On Oct. 1, 2025, The United States federal government shutdown. Many workers are furloughed, meaning they are being forced to take time off work without being paid. This has led to many Americans feeling frustrated and unheard by our government.
What is a government shutdown?
There are two different reasons as to why the government would shut down. Either Congress cannot agree on the government budget, or the President of the United States will not sign the fiscal bill which allows government entities to run. The lack of funding approval results in a gap in funding, which means that the government cannot function.
Therefore, the government shutdown and runs on barebones resources until Congress is able to pass a resolution.
On Oct. 1, 2025, the government was shut down due to a lack of agreement of funding. The House of Representatives approved a continuing resolution that would fund the government for the fiscal year. The bill needs 60 people to pass in order to become a law. Currently, there are 53 Republicans in the Senate who want to pass the bill.
Democrats are not wanting to sign the bill unless they extend funding for the Affordable Care Act.
The Affordable Care Act was originally signed March 23, 2010, by former President Barack Obama. The Affordable Care Act was a complete healthcare reform plan that included an expansion of Medicare and Medicaid programs. In addition, the ACA also puts protections in place that were made to protect consumers.
According to The KFF, an independent health study organization and a nonpartisan health news organization, the record number of uninsured Americans lowered significantly to just 7.7% in 2023. Originally it was around 14-16% when the ACA was signed.
The Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on this issue and sign the bill for funding. Therefore, the government shut down.
Close to Wright State University, there are many issues that may arise following the shutdown.
Local effects
There are several ways that a federal shutdown will and already have affected the community.
For starters, most, if not all government programs that are offered locally are funded through larger federal government agencies that have to have their funding reapproved by Sept. 30. Therefore, these affected programs are impacted.
But the largest of things that is affected is employment. According to the National Association for State Retirement Administrators, a good chunk of a local population's employment will just be in local government alone.
“[There are] approximately 20.65 million employees of state and local government as of August 2025. Local governments, which include most school districts, account for nearly three-quarters of total state and local employment, with state governments accounting for around one-quarter of the total. Overall, state and local employment accounts for approximately 13 percent of the nation's workforce,” explained NASRA.
During a government shutdown, the majority of these jobs are forced to go on a leave or work under a contingency plan while the federal government is figuring out the budgeting. When this happens, generally certain programs that rely on government workers have their processes slow down significantly.
Miami Valley residents like Norah Jones of Springfield are left feeling the effects.
“It's literally impossible to get a hold of anybody in the Social Security office right now. I know our government is shut down, but why do the American citizens have to pay for the government not getting along?” Jones asjed.
Due to less employees, offices like Social Security offer longer wait times for customer service. Additionally, they also halt things like benefit verification and earning record corrections. This means if you are in the process of applying for these resources, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to do so.
This issue also stems from other government-run things, like the National Museum of the US Air Force. The Air Force Museum is one of the things affected by the government funding issue. Due to a lack of government appropriations, the museum has had to shut its doors and suspend activity until the shutdown is over. Students at WSU are upset because of this, echoing the unfairness placed on citizens.
Fern Lawler is a masters of humanities major at WSU.
“Personally, it’s upsetting that we are the ones that are being affected,” Lawler said. “We are polarized as a nation right now, that is clear. But ultimately, the citizens are the ones who are paying for it. Thousands have lost their jobs or are going without government assistance that could help them thrive. It is entirely wrong for our government to do this to its people, regardless of what side of the aisle you're on.”
At the time of writing, we are entering the second week of the government shutdown. If our government does not reach an agreement soon, the potential of this affecting US citizen is going to grow. Currently, there is no agreement being made.
