Government Reopens After Record Long Shutdown

By Noah Smith

On November 12th, President Trump signed a bill to end the longest Government shutdown in history. The 43 days that the government was shut down were 8 days longer than the shutdown in 2018, and both were under the Trump administration. These two shutdowns were weeks longer than the previous record.

The shutdown began when Congress failed to approve the needed funding bills for the federal government by September 30th. A main reason that these bills weren’t passed was key disagreements between the political parties.

The Republicans pushed a funding bill that didn’t include extensions of certain health-care subsidies, which Democrats wanted to be included. Because of these disagreements, the bills couldn’t be passed, and the government shut down.

While the government has been shut down, various essential workers have been working without pay. The most notable of these workers were airport workers and air traffic controllers. Because many of these workers weren’t being paid, there were fewer people working there, and several delays and accidents occurred at the airports.

But even though the government will be up and running, airport workers are still awaiting backpay, and so air travel delays may linger for the time being. Additionally, another shutdown could happen on January 30th, as the bill only funds the government up until that point.

After signing the bill, President Trump exclaimed, “It’s a great day!” Questions still remain about the true impact of the shutdown and future shutdowns, but for now, the federal government has reopened.