On Oct. 1, the U.S. government shut down. This shutdown is already the second longest in history, the longest being 34 days, which happened in late 2018 into early 2019. According to recent polls, one third of voters had no idea there was a government shutdown. Many citizens are ill-informed about what government shutdowns actually entail. So that begs the question, what exactly does a government shutdown mean? What effects will be seen within the triangle area?

Historically, government shutdowns have become more of a recent issue. Therefore, most may not understand what exactly a shutdown means. Joseph Williams, an AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher at Wakefield, explains what a government shutdown actually entails. 

“Congress has to approve the budget every single year,” Williams said. “It’s almost a year-long process. [So a] government shutdown is when Congress can’t agree on a budget, all non-essential government services stop, all the essential ones keep going, but they’re just not getting paid until that budget gets approved.”

Not only will government workers not be paid for an unknown period of time, but this closure will also impact those receiving federal aid. For example, due to the lapse in funding, the money allotted to SNAP benefits will run out on Nov. 1. As a result, 42 million Americans who receive food assistance using SNAP benefits will be without help. But then this poses the question, why don’t we always have a budget? Why does this gap in funding happen?

A budget might not be in place for a variety of reasons. One common culprit is the divide along party lines, preventing a budget from being set into place. James Popek, an AP Macroeconomics and Personal Finance teacher, further explains why a budget isn’t always in place.

“A lot of times, there are disagreements; some people might want more funding for health care and others might want more funding for border security,” Popek said.  “So when you get opposition to those certain policies, that’s what’s creating a lot of the gridlock in Washington.” 

Gridlock refers to political progress coming to a stop due to disagreements. This is the main reason why government shutdowns happen. During the budget-making process, disagreements arise, and then a budget is not set into place. The budget allocates funding for a multitude of government programs; therefore, conflict is bound to occur. 

However, when no compromise is reached, the government shuts down. 

This shutdown affects a large number of people within the Wake County area. Over 1.4 million Americans use SNAP benefits in North Carolina. Within the community, it is expected to see some things change. Charles Hensey, an Economics and Personal Finance and AP Human Geography teacher, explains some of the damages the government shutdown will have. 

“Various people estimate that right now, it’s causing about $10 billion worth of damage every day, in terms of short-term growth loss,” Hensey said. “There’s also the damage of people who are on government contracts or government workers for their jobs, say, for example, food vendors, businesses, people who transport or have other contracts traveling for business and all of that, economic benefit is lost.” 

At the state level, it is estimated that North Carolina’s Gross State Product will decline by around 442 million each week the shutdown extends, the equivalent of around 1.9 billion per month while the government is shut down. Most people are going to experience some difficulties due to the shutdown. Therefore, during this time, the most important thing is to be compassionate towards others and to look for friends and family. 

“[There is a lot of] damage that is done to individuals who are working without pay or who are laid off,” Hensey said. “Their ability to pay their bills and stay on top of their own financial issues for them is much more damaging.”