Empty Shelves and Crowded Airports: The Far-Reaching Fallout of the Government Shutdown

Photo via Yahoo

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Recently, the United States of America had been in the longest government shutdown in history, lasting 43 days and surpassing the 35-day shutdown of 2018-2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term. 

Starting on October 1, the government shut down because Congress could not pass a budget for the new fiscal year. Currently, Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but the Senate was short 60 votes needed to pass the spending bill. Democrats wanted the spending bill to include the extension of expiring tax credits that make health care cheaper for millions of Americans and reverse President Trump’s cuts to Medicaid. Unlike other shutdowns, the White House is not prioritizing it. Since his second inauguration in January, Trump has already fired thousands of workers and slashed government spending. He has also threatened to not turn government operations to normal, bring spending back to its previous amounts, or pay workers retroactivity for the shutdown.

Ending the shutdown required Congress to compromise on a bill that the President must sign. The spending bill passed in the Senate by a 60-40 vote on November 10th, after seven Democrats and one Independent sided with Republicans. The House of Representatives voted by Wednesday, November 12th. However, several uncertainties loomed over the House: will Republicans in the House compromise on healthcare? Will opposition from Democrats in the House be intense? Do Republicans have the votes? And will the travel chaos relay Representative flights to Washington D.C.?

On Wednesday, November 12th, President Trump signed the House-passed funding package to end the record 43 day shutdown. Yet, the resolution did little to undo the damage already set into motion. Since the start of the shutdown, about 1.4 million federal employees were either on unpaid leave or working without pay. The government told border protection, law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and in-hospital care medical workers to operate as usual. Social Security and Medicare checks were still being distributed to Americans because they are funded by mandatory, non-discretionary spending that is not subjected to the annual congressional application process. Likewise, the United States Postal Service continued its operations uninterrupted, as it is primarily funded through the sale of postage, products, and services rather than congressional funding. 

Money for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) ran out, leaving 41 million Americans without food stamps. This shutdown is the first in which SNAP has been affected due to its length and led to delays to SNAP payments for millions of Americans. The shutdown highlighted just how beneficial SNAP is to Americans as it is crucial to combat hunger. 

Before the government began to reopen, the Supreme Court extended a pause of a federal judge’s court order that deemed the Trump Administration responsible for paying the entirety of SNAP benefits for November. The administration only supports paying 65% of the cost of SNAP, at first they supported only 50%. Some states, like New York, have moved forward to pay full benefits for November, while other states are following plans to pay 65% of the benefits in accordance with the administration. During the first Trump administration, they worked extremely hard to make sure SNAP would not be affected, but during his second administration, the loss of SNAP benefit does not seem like a high priority, especially after the passing of the “Big, Beautiful, Bill.”

President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” will lead to obstacles for SNAP recipients. Every three years, adults up to age 65 will have three months to prove that they work a minimum of 80 hours a month, and this criteria will apply to everyone, including veterans, homeless individuals, and former foster youth. The bill also tightens eligibility for non-citizens, while dramatically shifting financial responsibility from the federal government to the states. Administrative costs, once split 50-50, will now require the states to pay 75%. Full federal funding of benefits is due to stop, with state contribution tied to their “error rates” in determining eligibility. The consequences are astronomical. Millions will lose all benefits, while millions more will see a reduction.

Across the country, Americans have come together to volunteer at food banks and organize donation drives, filling the gap left by the loss of federal assistance. At Fordham University, members of our community organized food pantries on both campuses. At Rose Hill, the food pantry is located in Campus Ministry’s Office in McShane Center, and in Lincoln Center, the food pantry is located in the Center for Community Engaged Learning Conference Room in the Lowenstein Center. More than 200 students, faculty, and staff volunteered at the pantry, helping to stock shelves, welcome visitors, and take note of needed items. While no act of charity can replace the scale of federal need, local initiatives, exemplified by Fordham, demonstrate how ordinary people step up to support their communities when institutions fall apart. These growing barriers to food assistance are just an example of how the shutdown is disrupting daily life, a trend that is also reflected in the mounting problems facing the nation’s airports. 

 Air traffic controllers were expected to work without pay, causing thousands of flights to be delayed or cancelled. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, warned that commercial air travel will reduce to a “trickle” due to rising air traffic controller staffing problems who must meet mandatory staffing levels and have specialized skills and training. The Trump Administration ordered airlines to cut 4% of domestic flights at 40 major United States airports, and that number is set to rise to 10% by Friday, November 14th. Luckily, the government reopened before the full 10% cut was implemented, and all flight restrictions were lifted by November 17th. This past weekend, about 16,440 flights across the United States were delayed and 3,788 were cancelled. About 700 of those flights were from the four largest airlines: American Airlines, Delta, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. The industry group that represents the largest U.S. airlines, Airlines for America, blamed 71% of the delay time on air traffic staffing issues. 

14,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 airport security screeners are required to work during the shutdown without receiving pay, and all federal workers missed their second paycheck on Monday, November 10th. Some controllers were forced to take second jobs to make their ends meet. Bryan Bedford, Administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), said that 20 to 40 percent of all controllers had not been showing up to work over the last days of the shutdown. 

Many travelers were anxious and panicked at the possibility of their Thanksgiving holiday being upended by domestic flight chaos. Fordham’s Thanksgiving break officially starts Wednesday, November 26th, but many professors have cancelled classes to allow students extra travel time. Still, with flight cancellations plaguing airports weeks before the break and uncertainty surrounding FAA staffing, students trying to fly home could face major disruptions. 

Fordham’s student body is geographically diverse, representing 49 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, making reliable air travel essential for many to return home to see their families for the holiday. While many of our students do come from the Tri-State area, a large portion of the student population has to travel farther, particularly those from California, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, and Illinois, the states with the highest student representation outside of the Tri State area.  

The shutdown’s ripple effects highlight how deeply federal operations are intertwined with daily life, especially during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. For Fordham students, what should be a test of rest and relaxation, could have become a test of patience, planning, and luck amid a turbulent national crisis. 

In the end, the shutdown did not just stall government operations. It also exposed how quickly ideological battles in Washington can destabilize daily life. From families losing food assistance to students becoming unsure if they will make it home for Thanksgiving, the shutdown showed that Americans pay the price when their government uses essential services as bargaining chips. Even with the government reopening, new policies and weakened social services promise long-term consequences, especially for those most vulnerable. What unfolded during the past 43 days was not only a bureaucratic failure, but a warning: while political leaders choose conflict over governance, ordinary people will suffer the consequences. 

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This article was edited by Fatimah Waqas and Angelina Bland.