On the morning of Oct. 1, 2025, the United States federal government had its first shutdown in seven years as Congress could not come to an agreement on financial legislation that would fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year. More specifically, the shutdown stemmed from a healthcare debate in Congress that is still ongoing.
Government shutdowns are not particularly uncommon; there have been 10 others throughout the history of the United States, with the last being in 2018 and the longest to date. The previous shutdowns are also not limited to one political party; there have been shutdowns under both major political parties.
There have been multiple attempts to end the shutdown since it started, but each attempt has so far been unsuccessful, as Congress could not come to an agreement that would satisfy everyone.
The shutdown of the government has led to massive trickle-down effects into everyday life, as there have been reported that 750,000 employees have been furloughed who work for the federal government. This being one of the many impacts of the ongoing shutdown.
With this ongoing shutdown, there has been concern about what the root cause of the shutdown was, the debate about healthcare, and, more specifically, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the shutdown continues, come Nov. 1, which is when enrollment opens, many Americans will likely see increases in monthly healthcare costs.
The shutdown has led to a variety of opinions in both the political landscape and within the public, on college campuses to be more specific. One of those people is Jordyn Grier-Parham, 23, a music industry major who is surprised that the shutdown has gone on for so long and feels that the shutdown is one of the many setbacks to going forward as a country.
“For as far as we’ve come, I think that we can go a lot farther … and if we could just get ourselves together, we could do some more good than have ourselves be stopped in our tracks,” said Grier-Parham.
A sentiment shared by another Rowan student, Emily Szemiot, 20, a graphic design major, who feels that the country is too divided at the moment, and the only way to see any type of progress is to come together to solve any and all problems.
“We need to all just get together to try and stop everything from happening,” said Szemiot.
Szemiot also feels that the shutdown is something that should not be ignored by people, and was shocked that she hasn’t seen much news coverage despite it being an ongoing major event that is happening in the country at the moment.
“I have barely seen any news about it, it’s happening, we should realize it … the amount of social media I see a day, I see nothing related to that,” said Szemiot.
Another student, Lily Rizzo, 20, a radio, television, & film (RTF) major, said, “I think that it is being handled really unprofessionally, and there is no reason it should be continuing to go on this long.”
Rizzo also stated that she wants all elected officials to take this shutdown seriously, as people’s lives are affected by it.
“I honestly don’t know what needs to be done, [as] I’m not politically intelligent enough, but I do think officials need to take it more seriously,” said Rizzo.
Rizzo shares sentiment with a majority of the American public; while many are frustrated with the majority in power, there is also frustration across the board with each major political party and their handling of this shutdown, and how there has not been much progress.
The shutdown of the government has now reached its third week since its start, as of Oct. 21, and could be on track to break the record for the longest in history if there is no agreement made by Congress. The longest being the previous shutdown that started in late 2018 to early 2019, which lasted for 35 days.
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