The U.S. government has been closed for almost a week after Congressional action Tuesday forced a shutdown for the first time in 17 years. The shutdown was the result of disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which went into effect Oct. 1.
Congress needed to pass a budget for the new fiscal year, also beginning Oct. 1, but the House of Representatives wouldn’t support a proposal unless the Senate agreed to delay healthcare for another year.
“Asking for a year delay is effectively trying to kill it,” Wayne Steger, a political science professor, said. Democrats refused to budge on healthcare, and after an evening of back-and-forth, the government closed.
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Federal employees out of work
Because of the shutdown, 800,000 federal workers have been forced to stay home. These people are considered “non- essential” employees, meaning their duties aren’t pertinent to public security or protection. “Essential” employees are still working, according to DePaul political science professor Zachary Cook, but many of them aren’t being paid and will receive a paycheck retroactively when the government reopens.
The exodus of employees also has a dramatic effect on federal agencies themselves. According to the Washington Post’s