The most recent government shutdown broke the record for the longest shutdown in American history, breaking the previous record of 35 days with a new high of 43 days. During that time, 1.4 million American government workers went without pay. The shutdown began Oct. 1 and ended when President Donald Trump signed a spending bill on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
The reason behind the shutdown was a failure to pass a vote on government budgeting and healthcare, including the Affordable Care Act subsidies, among other things.
So, how did this shutdown affect the Tualatin community and the United States as a whole?
Tualatin High School (TuHS) senior Mark Wilkinson’s mother works in a position funded by government spending and was paid by her department’s emergency fund up until Nov. 4, when pay was suspended.
“Recently, they went over their emergency funds,” Wilkinson said before the shutdown ended. “They had about two weeks of being able to pay everybody, but then she recently just got her last paycheck. It’s just frustrating because you can’t just not show up to work. Everybody has to be unpaid.”
Wilkinson’s family, along with 3 million other government employees, had to keep a close watch on their money during the shutdown. This is just after tens of thousands of government employees were removed from their positions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier this year. Suspension of pay as a result of the shutdown also typically affects the military, which Wilkinson criticized.
“You are actively serving this country, and there is no backup money to fund you.”
TuHS senior Osias Holt’s father is a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. He specializes in electronics and was directly affected by the shutdown. Holt’s main frustration with the shutdown stems from the lack of governmental healthcare benefits delaying his one-year process to book an appointment with Tricare for an ADHD diagnosis.
“This year, I was going to have an appointment on the 14th of November, but it got cancelled because of the shutdown; my insurance doesn’t work, so I no longer have my appointment,” Holt said.
Healthcare was hit hard during this shutdown. In Holt’s case, Tricare was unable to process medical claims. Tricare is the uniformed services health care program for active duty service members, active duty family members, National Guard and Reserve members, and their family members, retirees and retiree family members, survivors and certain former spouses worldwide. In 2018, Tricare was estimated to cover 9.4 million Americans. Tricare accounts for just one of 56 different Medicaid programs.
On Nov. 10, eight Democrats joined Republicans in voting for a stopgap spending bill that would end the shutdown without extending healthcare subsidies for millions of Americans. The passed bill funds annual spending and government necessities through Jan. 30. Notably, the bill orders that States be reimbursed for any expenses incurred during the shutdown, reverses the mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown and blocks new mass layoffs until the end of January. Section 213 of the bill also allows senators to sue phone and other communication providers if they do not inform affected senators if prosecutors request the disclosure of Senate data. This seems to aid eight Republican senators who had their data subpoenaed in 2023 in relation to the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack investigation.
Frustration from Democrats related to healthcare subsidies not being extended in the passed bill. The bill fails to extend expiring healthcare subsidies that will result in Americans facing rising insurance premiums. Republicans promised to hold a vote by mid- December on whether to extend the healthcare subsidies, but the vote is not guaranteed. Importantly, the Affordable Care Act expires in December. Without the enhanced tax credit, premiums on average will more than double for millions of Americans. An estimated 2 million Americans would lose their health insurance as a result.
Funding for 2026 remains uncertain. If the Affordable Care Act expires, about 140,000 Oregonians could see their insurance premiums more than double. The shutdown compromise includes funding for the United States Department of Agriculture, which universities like Oregon State University lean on to fund programs and grants. Democrats and Republicans still remain at odds in the aftermath of the shutdown, as they prepare themselves for the upcoming midterms next November.
“It’s just frustrating because you can’t just not show up to work.”
– Mark Wilkinson, senior
