Matthew Murphy, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
The recent government shutdown has affected many people across the United States. One of the many people affected by the shutdown is a student at Berry.
Senior Lauren Young has been impacted by the government shutdown because her father, a government employee, is being furloughed due to the shutdown.
“My dad is a government worker, and so with the government being shut down he is not working, so for right now he is currently not getting paid,” Young said. “My family currently has no income coming in.”
Peter Lawler, Dana Professor of Government, said the shutdown was caused because of disagreements between political parties, specifically dealing with the Republican Party’s view on Obamacare.
“The Republicans desire to get the president to agree to delay the implementation of Obamacare and he wouldn’t do it, and so Congress wouldn’t appropriate money,” Lawler said.
USA Today further explained the reasoning behind the shutdown. Their website explains that when a spending bill cannot be chosen, Congress has no legal authority to spend money, thus leading to a government shutdown.
Young’s father is a retired member of the U.S. Army and is now working for the Department of Army as a civilian worker. He is the Division Chief for the Army’s Modeling and Simulation Division.
Because of the shutdown, Young’s father was deemed a non-essential worker and is therefore currently being furloughed and is working without pay.
With her father being out of work, Young is impacted financially, having to rethink certain financial matters.
“It’s affected me because I’ve had to kind of adjust the way that I think about my finances because my family helps me with some of that,” Young said. “We’ve had to kind of re-take a look at all of that in case we lose a bunch of money.”
In the past, a bill has been passed to allow government employees to continue to be paid during government shutdowns.
Young and her family are not the only ones affected by the shutdown. CNN lists 39 different government agencies that are completely shut down, including agencies such as the National Science Foundation. Other government agencies are partially functioning, with only some employees being furloughed.
In regards to the shutdown, Lawler said that the Republicans could have handled the topic of Obamacare without shutting the entire government down.
“So the Republicans should suck it up and rally around the next election,” Lawler said.
Lawler said that the shutdown has affected the economy, but not in an extreme manner. He also said that the real concern was default on the national debt.
Lawler said that programs were not cut in the proper manner but instead at random.
“There are some programs that we really need that were stupidly cut because the cuts were kind of random,” Lawler said.
For now, the government shutdown continues and no word has been released as to when the shutdown might end.