By Ethan Przybylski
@redlineproject
The government shutdown has now hit 26 days. How are Chicagoans being impacted?
The U.S. government has currently been shut down for 26 days, following Congress’s failure to sign a spending bill on Oct. 1. Without a budget for federal agencies agreed upon, thousands of federal workers and services will be impacted, including over 33,000 federal employees in Chicago.
The effects of the shutdown can be felt in many different federal agencies, such as Transportation Security Agency (TSA) workers, and air traffic controllers at Chicago’s two airports, O’Hare and Midway. These workers will go without pay for the duration of the shutdown, which has led to increased wait times at Chicago’s airports, as many TSA workers refused to show up to work during the last government shutdown.
The good news is that while many services may be affected, there are many that will not see suspended services. Agencies such as the United States Post Office will not be affected as they operate independently, despite being a federal agency. Benefits such as Medicare and unemployment will not be withheld, and veterans will not lose their benefits for the duration of the shutdown.
Shutdowns are rare, but not unheard of, happening 10 times since the budget process was established in 1976. The longest government shutdown occurred in 2019 during the first Trump administration, lasting 34 days. The current government shutdown is now the second longest in history, and with no solution in sight, it may become the longest, meaning the effects on Chicagoans may not yet be fully realized.
