As of yesterday, the U.S. government was shut down! What does this mean; are the airports closed, are stores closed, do people have to go to work? Well, first of all this is just a temporarily shutdown (or closure), America is not “closed” forever, at least we hope not! And this shutdown is not affecting everyone in the United States either, at least not immediately, and the whole country is not closed. In the United States a government shutdown means that the federal government stops providing “nonessential” service. So, it is important to know what ‘essential’ and ‘nonessential’ mean to understand this federal government shutdown. I’ve also defined a few other important words related to this government shutdown below.
essential: absolutely necessary or extremely important
nonessential: not absolutely necessary, not a priority
appropriations: laws that provide money for federal agencies
furlough: temporary unpaid time off work
stopgap: a temporary deal or way of satisfying a problem
to fund: to provide money
contingency plan: a plan that takes possible future events into consideration
So, what does all of this mean for the people in the United States right now? What parts of the government will be closed (because they are nonessential) and what parts will be running normally (because they are essential)?
Essential American government services include:
The U.S. military and Homeland Security agency
Air traffic control
The federal courts
The U.S. mail services
Nonessential government service include:
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
America’s National Parks and Smithsonian Museums
The Environmental Protection Agency
State Department processing of visas and passport
Unfortunately for those people who are considered “nonessential” government employees, they can not go to work (their offices are closed and the doors are locked!) and they won’t get paid until the government is “open” again. For some Americans and tourists in America, this government shutdown won’t have any effect on them at all, while for others it will have a big effect, for example for tourists they can no long visit to National Parks or the Smithsonian Museums.
Luckily, a government shutdown is not a common thing in this country; the last time this a government shutdown happened was 17 years ago. Also, we all hope it will be over soon! The only way it will end though, is if the United States Congress passes an appropriations bill to fund government programs and employees again.
If you want to read more about this U.S. government shutdown, here is an article you might want to look at.
