October 1, 2025
Welcome to day one of the US government shutdown. There is no plan and no deal to reopen it anytime soon.
So for those of you who are new to this – don’t worry – I’m going to explain what comes next and how this is going to impact you and for those of you who have been through this before – you need to pay attention to this video too because this shutdown is unlike any other shutdown any of us have seen in the past. Of course the politics around this is messy and I’ll address that if you want in another video – but in this video – I just want to give you the nuts and bolts of what’s happening.
Ok – so officially – the US government shut down at 12:01 a.m. this morning. That means all non-essential government workers have been furloughed and non essential government agencies and departments have closed. According to the white house that means up to 750,000 federal employees are going to be off the job. As for federal agencies and departments that are considered essential – they are still open….however – the essential federal workers at those agencies and departments must show up to work and they will not be paid until the government is reopened. – put a pin in that, it’s important and we’re going to come back to it – because that little tidbit will impact you.
Before we get there… let’s talk about what are considered some key essential agencies and departments that are going to stay open? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans benefits, military operations, law enforcement, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and air traffic control. They will all stay open – the essential employes who work there will have to show up but they will not be paid.
A general rule of thumb is — the shorter the shutdown lasts, the less impact it will have on everyday Americans and the longer it lasts the more it will impact you. Of course – it impacts every federal worker immediately but for everyone else, if the shutdown is just a few days – it shouldn’t really disrupt your life …but if it lasts for a week or more – you will probably start to see some problems. For the record, the last government shutdown we had was in 2018 and into 2019 during the last Trump administration. It was the longest shutdown in like 40 years and it lasted 35 days.
And those 35 days are what leads me back to that put a pin in it idea that i just talked about. Remember I said essential workers have to go to work and won’t get paid until the government opens back up? Well – the last shutdown was 35 days …that’s a along time – basically it boils down to missing two paychecks. Put yourself in the shoes of these essential government workers. What if your employer said yeah – I need you to come to work but I’m not sure when I can get you a paycheck. But you need to do your job. What happens to your bills? Do you think your landlord would just waive your rent for that month? What about your electric bill? How about your cell phone bill? See – it’s a problem.
What happened last time was federal workers at TSA – for example — put up with showing up to work without a paycheck for the first few days and weeks but by the end – they were like – if you’re not going to pay me, I’m just not going to show up anymore….I got bills to pay. They started to call in sick to work – which trickled down to air travelers who were facing huge lines at the security checkpoint because lots of the TSA officers called out sick.
Here’s another example – remember I said social security is considered essential. So yes – you will still get your social security check – however – some of the social security support staff at the social security office are considered non-essential so they are furloughed. That means – if you want to process a new social security or disability claim or if you have a question about your benefits getting those answers will be very difficult. As for SNAP benefits – those will continue for now – but if this shutdown lasts through the entire month of October – they may not.
One more example that I know will impact a lot of you. The Department of Education is furloughing about 80% of its staff…and that’s on top of all the firings at the Education department that happened earlier this year. So it’s slim over there already. Yes – you will still get your student aid disbursements through Pell Grants and federal direct student loans and yes you can still apply for FAFSA. But you will not be able to get a new grant and if you have questions about your student loans – it’s going to be much harder for you to get an answer with fewer support staff. Also you are still required to repay your student loans during the government shutdown.
The last super important thing I want to point out that makes this shutdown completely different than any other shutdown we’ve ever seen– is – President Trump and his stance on all this. Usually during a shutdown the president wants to get federal workers paid and off furlough as possible so there is minimal disruption to those workers’ lives and the lives of the American people who rely on the government. But president trump just yesterday said he is going to use the shutdown to further his mission to slash the federal workforce. He said he wants to cut “vast numbers of people.” So instead of furloughs – these federal workers may actually be laid off or fired. Plus he also said he’s going to use the shutdown to “cut programs” that the democrats like. I’m not sure exactly what he means by that but I’ve never heard any president say anything like that nor have we seen a president use a shutdown to just slash the workforce.
