A government shutdown has been set in place as of October 1st at 12:01am.

Government funding has come to a halt after President Trump’s party and the opposing Democratic Party have not agreed on recent budgeting bills. There have been drastic budget cuts made by the government; though Republicans control the Congress and Senate, they are short 60 votes to pass the spending bill. (BBC.) This government shutdown will not only affect the entire U.S but it will also affect many Coloradans.

Many government shutdowns have happened in the past, the most recent being in December of 2024. Vice President JD Vance states, “I think we’re headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing.”

There have been 20 government shutdowns in U.S. history, this is the 21st. Millions of people would be without pay for the majority of this shutdown, 4 million federal employees would be without a job. (abc News.) This shutdown looks like it will go into the majority of October.

What are Government Shutdowns?

A government shutdown is the exact explanation of its name: when the federal government stops most government activity. The reason behind this shutdown is the disagreement over funding and the lack of money to support the government, much like the last one in 2024.

Though the government is short on funding due to overwhelming disagreement between parties, it does not mean that the government has no money. The government gains yearly funding that allows for laws to be enforced and for paying federal employees.

This current issue is the disagreement between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party over the failed passing of the GOP-crafted funding bill. This bill has been previously rejected on September 9th, it was voted into place by the Republican Party but a majority has already vetoed the bill: that being the Democrats.

 What Happens During a Government Shutdown?

To avoid a government shutdown, the republican and democratic parties must come to an agreement with support from the House and Senate about the funding bill.

The inability to do so, will lead to a nation wide shutdown, leading to everything funded by the federal government to go unpaid for the foreseeable future. Thousands of employees will keep their job but unable to work and without a paycheck. Though the majority of workers will not be working, the most essential workers will remain working during the looming shutdown.

The local and state government of Colorado will continue to be moving, but federally funded programs and workers will remain unpaid with no work. This shutdown is expected to last only a couple days up to a couple weeks. (Nbcnews.)

According to CRP.org, in the hours leading up to the shutdown, the Senate tried but failed to pass a seven-week temporary funding measure that was presented a couple weeks ago. This measure would include health care assistance.

What Should Coloradans Expect? 

All state-funded projects will still operate, like your public libraries or your local fire departments. Also in the event you planned to catch a flight soon or send a package, essential employees consist of Air traffic controllers and most TSA employees, and USPS workers. But, Colorado will have over 54,000 federal workers without a paycheck during this shutdown.

“This will have damaging effect on the economy, coupled with the crippling tariffs which are costing every Colorado family already,” states Colorado’s governor Jared Polis. GOP representative Jeff Hurd states, “If there’s a shutdown, it’s because Democrats chose politics over common sense.” Both sides of this shutdown have been placing the blame on each other, which could possibly lead to an even longer shutdown.

Many self-owned businesses would lose federal funding, though they have most economic support from themselves – some contractors for example, could lose their jobs forever after this shutdown.

If the shutdown were to last longer than a month, Colorado would receive help from WIC and SNAP, two programs created to aid relief for federal parts of the government. Colorado has also approved last minute funding for food and medical assistance in advance of the government shutdown.

Colorado is very thankful to have programs that allow them to regain basic needs after a long period of an uncomfortable situation. This is not the case for certain states such as many on the east coast who have little to no help after disasters such as floods or hurricanes.

When the shutdown was set into place, all of Colorado’s historical places will be closed, this includes four national parks, five national monuments, and many recreation centers.

Phone lines were shut down and automatically sent to voicemail, all visitors centers and attractions will be closed as of October 1st. Governor Jared Polis has been advocating for national parks to remain open since the start of the shutdown. Turning down the public has resulted in a huge loss of income that supports the parks.

A message posted on the US Forest Service website states, “during the funding lapse… President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”

Why Can’t Congress Get the Government Funded?

The different views between the Republicans and Democrats has created much political division between parties. Donald Trump and the Republican Party took the majority of the House and the Senate in the 119th congress. Since Donald Trump regained presidential power he has decreased the size of the national government drastically, the democrats have wanted to keep the original large size of the government.

At the urging of his Republican colleagues, Trump has threatened to cut more spendings that could become a difficult scenario for the democrats if the solution were to not be resolved, according to AP News. “There could be firings, and that’s their fault,” Trump stated on behalf of the Democrats.

President Trump is said to meet with Russ Vought, head of Office Management to see what programs or organizations need to be cut. The Trump administration has already frozen almost $18 billion funding projects done by the federal government. Trump has mentioned that Vought has been a part of Project 2025 – a project that is called to majorly downsize the federal government.

So What’s Next?

For the shutdown to be resolved the two parties must agree on the spending bill, whether it’s the original bill (GOP), a revised version or a completely new bill. With the division between the two parties and the overwhelming hatred after the 2024 election, this is going to take a while.

For weeks before the shutdown Democratic politicians have been pushing for more health care policies, while the Trump administration has cut many health care projects. The overwhelming blame between the two parties has created a large number of issues in the past, one of the more recent ones being in December of 2024.

The Trump administration is known for doing things that have no regard for the public opinion, like the U.S-Mexico border. This may result in a situation that the public does not agree with, which could lead to an even longer shutdown.

The overwhelming cuts Trump’s team has made has created nothing short of backlash. National parks, air traffic control and certain disaster aid have been affected by these cuts, making it very hard for them to maintain staff. This is a result of the project 2025, that was set in play earlier this year.

With so much division the government shutdown looks like it may be a while. The Democrats  and Republicans need to come up with a solution, or this will be a long end of 2025.