Americans Brace for Potential Government Shutdown

By Tadi Abedje Published: September 28, 2021

Americans Brace for Potential Government Shutdown

CNN reported that the Senate and House are not in session, and most lawmakers are not currently in their offices. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

In Summary

Without an agreement by lawmakers, the federal government will close on Oct 1.

People in America, especially those who are employed by the federal government, could be facing the big possibility of another government shutdown, according to CBS News.

It will close on Oct. 1 at 12:01 a.m. unless lawmakers in Congress reach an agreement by the last day of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30.

Unfortunately, the government is on the verge of shutting down after Republicans in the Senate rejected a bill that would fund the government and close the debt ceiling.

As a result of a potential shutdown many governmental agencies will be affected. This includes national parks, Social Security and Medicare, environmental and food inspection, air travel, Health and Human Services, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program all will be affected, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

This comes at a time when many Americans are trying to land back on their feet from both the global pandemic and the economy reeling due to the effects of the COVID-19 Delta variant, according to CBS News.

“What will happen is that all non-essential services done by the federal government will stop. What that means is that each federal agency will determine what is considered essential and what’s not essential,” CBS MoneyWatch reporter Aimee Picchi said.

According to CBS News, hundreds and thousands of federal workers are probably going to be furloughed due to the shutdown.

“You have two million civilian employees that are working hard across the country,” said Max Stier, who is the president of the Partnership for Public Service. “What you’ve told all of them is that there maybe a shutdown. That means that they have to actually stop working on things like the [Montana] train crash or dealing with the economic calamity created by the pandemic.”