The U.S. government is currently shut down. Some people are unaware of what this means or why the government is shut down. A government shutdown is essentially when Congress has not passed funding legislation for the budget of the fiscal year, AKA a funding gap period. This causes a full or partial shutdown of federal government operations and agencies. Some services/facilities that could or will close during this shutdown include Medicare, Medicaid, the W.I.C. program, the National Institutes of Health, and many more.
The government shut down on Oct. 1st because of major disagreements between Congressmen about federal spending levels, foreign aid rescissions (cancellation of a contract or law), and health insurance subsidies (grant or gift of money from the government). The shutdown resulted in the furlough (suspension/discharge of a worker or workers because of economic conditions) of roughly 900,000 federal employees and left another 700,000 working without pay.
Ballard will be affected by the shutdown because funding for education has been put on hold for the moment. JCPS is already millions of dollars in debt, so the pause on funding educational programs will likely lead to many unprecedented consequences, one of which may be less materials for school lunches or even lunches that cost money. Ballard students’ personal lives will likely also be negatively affected by the shutdown, since many students and their families use the agencies that have been shut down.
