The U.S. Federal Government is likely to shut down at the end of the month, leaving many federal programs without funding, according to PBS.
Government shutdowns are caused by the U.S. Legislature failing to pass spending bills for federal programs. Government shutdowns occur at the beginning of the fiscal year, before a budget has been set, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
University of Wisconsin professor emeritus of political science David Canon said the Senate proposed a bill Tuesday that would fund the government for six more weeks. The bill also includes additional funding for Ukraine and domestic disaster relief. It likely has enough support in the Senate to pass, but Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he would attempt to delay the bill from passing.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated he would never include a short-term bill that includes support for Ukraine, Canon said. McCarthy has attempted to craft long-term funding legislation, but has faced challenges getting support from other House Republicans.
“[The threat of a challenge to McCarthy’s speakership] is yet another reason that it’s really hard right now to get any kind of bipartisan compromise in the House because the right wing of the Republican Party in the House is basically holding the speaker hostage here,” Canon said.
Democrats are firmly against everything the Republicans have proposed, as they would have deep cuts in domestic spending, Canon said. If McCarthy presents a bipartisan bill, then the hard right wing of the Republican party has shown they would challenge his speakership and remove McCarthy.
If the government were to shut down, it would impact many UW students since federal student loan programs would be unable to assist with any questions about these loans, Canon said. The Federal Student Aid Office would not be able to assist in person. But those with automatic payments on to their loan or programs would not be affected. Additionally, the application for Federal Pell Grants would be delayed for those students applying.
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“Let’s say you were in the process of applying for a Pell Grant,” Canon said. “That won’t get processed for as long as the government shutdown. So if you need that Pell Grant to pay your rent this month, it may not come through as soon as you would have wanted to.”
The shutdown will also affect many other aspects of the federal government — essential workers have to work without pay and everyone else is not allowed to work during the shutdown. But, these essential workers do eventually get paid after the shutdown ends, Canon said. Examples of essential workers would be law enforcement, military personnel, air traffic controllers and people who work in Veterans Affairs hospitals.
UW research will also be impacted by the shutdown, Canon said. Researchers with federal grants would be unable to receive reimbursements through those grants until the shutdown ends. Typically, researchers can submit reimbursement forms and receive grant funding to cover expenses. But with the shutdown, reimbursements would not be processed until operations resume.
