Summary
- The US
government shut down after the Senate failed to pass a budget. - Around
750,000 federal workers furloughed or unpaid. - Democrats
wanted healthcare subsidy extensions; Republicans wanted a clean bill.
Five votes short of the 60-vote majority needed to pass, the
legislation was defeated by a vote of 55-45.
Senators John Curtis and Mike Lee of Utah both supported the
financing bill with their votes. Curtis blamed the unsuccessful vote on
“Washington’s dysfunction,” while Lee specifically attacked Democrats
for the closure.
While Republicans made “every accommodation” to
the Democrats, Sen. Lee claimed in a video uploaded to his personal X account
that they were “utterly unwilling.”
“This is really an unfortunate step they are taking and
I think they will come to regret it. But it is what it is, and we will move
forward,”
Lee said. Lee later added on his official account that
Democrats’
“hostage-taking with government funding will not succeed.”
Curtis said he is deeply concerned about relying on what he called
“short-term Band-Aid” solutions.
“Shutdown showdowns are no way to run the greatest
nation on Earth,”
Curtis said.
“Utahns know the simple truth: you
prepare, you live within your means, and you finish the job. My mission is to
work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to build a process that
reflects those principles, one that ends the cycle of crisis management and restores
public trust.”
After the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said
Democrats were working to negotiate an extension of the Affordable Care Act and
to reverse cuts to Medicaid. He said data showed it was one of the most
important things to the American people.
“So, we want to sit down and negotiate, but the
Republicans can’t do it in their partisan way,”
Schumer said.
However, Utah Rep. Burgess Owens, who represents the state’s
fourth congressional district, called the shutdown “The Schumer
Shutdown,” laying the blame on the minority leader.
“Chuck Schumer and the Democrats would rather pick a
fight with President Trump than keep the government open,”
Owens wrote on
social media.
Owens was joined on X by Rep. Mike Kennedy, who stated that
the shutdown could and ought to have been avoided.
Representatives Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy, who both
supported the bill that ultimately lost in the Senate, have not yet responded.
The shutdown is likely to result in the furloughing and
termination of a number of federal employees. Until financing is authorized,
other federal operations will be suspended.
Utah’s Mighty 5 National Parks Arches, Bryce Canyon,
Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion will continue to be open and accessible in
spite of the closure. In addition, the Utah Department of Health and Human
Services stated that its programs will remain open despite the federal
shutdown.
How many federal workers will be furloughed and who gets
paid?
About 750,000 federal employees are anticipated to be
furloughed through the U.S. government shutdown, meaning they are immediately
sent home without pay. That is approximately 23% of the federal workforce.
Furloughed employees will not receive paychecks during the shutdown but are
eligible to receive back pay when funded government reopens, according to the
Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019.
In addition, the roughly 1.5 million federal workers who are
“excepted” or “essential” will still work without
compensation.
This group includes federal law enforcement agents
(including ICE, TSA, and Department of State agents), air traffic controllers,
FBI and CIA agents, active military personnel, and others under federal duties
protecting life and property.
