On Oct. 1, the United States government was expected to run out of money and shut down, leaving over four million government workers unpaid.

A government shutdown would cause the closing of visitor centers, research facilities, campgrounds, museums, the military, and national parks. However, such an event was prevented due to Congress being able to pass a 45-day stopgap spending deal to keep the government funded while negotiations on how to deal with the debt and other factors playing into why the government is failing to fund itself. The deal led to the demise of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The threat of a shutdown is the same threat that seems to loom over Congress every year, it’s obvious that the national debt of $33 trillion needs to be solved. As the government takes more loans to pay off its debt, the debt slowly rises due to the inability to pay back the loans.

“If the government shuts down the military would stop being paid which would result in serious consequences for unstable countries with U.S. troops stationed” said Sophomore Michael Tigu when asked what the consequences of the government shutting down could be.

The threat of an October government shutdown has dissipated however it’s been replaced by the threat of the same thing happening in November of this year. With McCarthy gone and the two main parties more divided than ever, the chances of a crisis being avoided seem to grow more and more slim by the day. This situation has occurred before, American politics are in such a divide where both sides think the other is evil and can’t be trusted, that they can’t even make concessions to the other for the sake of saving the government. McCarthy was the reason that a deal was able to be made and he did so by compromising. Despite being a part of the Republican party he was able to make concessions to the Democrats on select issues so that the situation could be resolved.

The last time the government shut down was in 2019 when it shut down for 35 days and cost the government $5 billion. A government shutdown in 2023 seems likely but even if it is avoided it doesn’t fix the main issue: the United States debt. Until our debt can be resolved this will remain an issue every year. And until both sides, Republican and Democrat, can learn to cooperate for the sake of something bigger, this issue will continue to cause more issues.