What began as a budget dispute spiraled into a full-blown political showdown, with both parties blaming each other as the 2025 government shutdown grinded on from October 1st to November 12th. Most experts say there seemed to be one reigning issue that caused the disputes over the funding bill at hand. 

Mrs. Hewitt, a social studies teacher, said, “the key issue seems to be some health care subsidies”

With the complexity of disputes in the government it can be hard to get reliable unbiased information.

The C@SH American Government and Politics teacher, Mr. De Haan said, “you need to do your own research. And when you do your own research, don’t just use one source or don’t just use one side of sources.” 

When you look at both sides of the political spectrum, one can see the real impact of the government shutdown has on the American people.

A Spectrum senior, Star Gonzalez-Luna said, “If your parents work for the government, they’re not getting paid because they’re not working [and] that’s gonna affect how you get food, how you get clothes, how bills are getting paid.” 

Government funding not only affects the employees but also students trying to get education past high school.

Another senior, Wyatt Tilly, said, “I’d be most concerned about people applying to college because grants and federal loans might be affected.”

The 2025 government exposes how intense the current political climate is. The Pew Research Center states, “as of May 2024, 22% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (21%). Last year, 16% said they trusted the government just about always or most of the time, which was among the lowest measures in nearly seven decades of polling.” The most likely leading cause of these results are the divide among the parties. 

“Nobody seems to want to talk to each other and that’s just unfortunately not a good way to get things done, because in life you need compromise. Our officials need to do that and show our young people that that’s an okay thing to do,” said Hewitt.

Wherever you are in the United States, government shutdowns remind the people that democracy is more than debate and more about people willing to listen, learn and lead.