CADEN HAYNOR / NEWS EDITOR

The longest United States government shutdown officially ended  on   Nov. 12.   The   shutdown began on Oct. 1 and affected a wide range of federal services. 

The shutdown caused closures and minimal staffing in national parks. Funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) halted ­— causing delays in subsidies like food stamps. Flight operations were delayed and canceled as hundreds of thousands of federal workers were furloughed or worked without pay.

The shutdown continued for 43 days due to a lengthy negotiation between representatives on the congressional budget. The main area of debate on the bill was that certain Affordable Care Act premium subsidies related to people affording healthcare will expire. There were  also partisan divisions over where to spend federal funds. 

The process of ending the shutdown began in the Senate, with a 60-40 break in the over six-week stalemate. Seven Democrats and one independent reversed their votes to pass the bill through the Senate. After it went through the Senate, the bill was sent to the majority Republican House of Representatives — where it narrowly passed. That night, President Trump signed the spending bill to officially end the shutdown.

USD senior Ethan Hodosh shared his thoughts on the lengthy shutdown.

“People need to put partisanship behind them and agree because it hurts the general public,” Hodosh said. “I think that when we have people in power that can’t come to a mutual agreement it affects the public’s actual lives, whether it’s our workers not getting full payments and having to leave work  or    it’s the  people   not   being   able  to  fly  out    of    airports.” 

This new legislation will fund the government through the end of January and will reverse layoffs made during the shutdown, guaranteeing federal workers back pay for the time they were not compensated. This ensures that all who were not paid will receive what they are legally obliged to.

USD sophomore Sam Sobieraj gave his reaction to the shutdown ending.

“I’m really  glad   that   it’s over because so many things stopped happening when it was going on,” Sobieraj said. “I just think that the fact  that some politicians were being paid during the shutdown by the government is disgraceful and they were the ones that  needed to vote to end it.  Republican politicians going  on vacation during the shutdown while FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] workers don’t get paid are messed up.”

USD first-year Benjamin Babikian shared his views on the government reopening and the recent shutdown.

“I don’t  know  much about the new  spending   bill, but  I   think overall, there should be more cooperation in all forms of government across the United States,” Babikian stated. “People in our government are leaders and it is a sign of failure that things are not operating as smoothly as they should.”

As federal workers were continually  left  without   pay during the shutdown, flight schedules experienced multiple changes.

The plane delays and cancellations plagued San Diegans on their way in and out of San Diego International  Airport  in  recent weeks. 

Most recently, on Nov. 9, over 100 flights were canceled and about 300 were delayed at San Diego’s airport. 

Even following the end of the shutdown, some students are worried about flight cancellations as the Thanksgiving holiday looms around the corner. USD junior Daniella Romero explained why she is worried about these flight  schedule  changes.

“It  was definitely frustrating having  flights  either  being canceled  or   delayed the  past month or so,” Romero said. “I’ve heard from a lot of friends that they’ve been stressed about the [flight cancellations], whether or not they’d be able to fly home for the holidays, so I guess that’s the most prominent issue.”

Hodosh, who lives in Thousand Oaks, Calif., explained his plans for travelling back home this Thanksgiving.

“I’m driving home for Thanksgiving instead of flying,” Hodosh said. “The airport situation is a clear example of [these shutdowns] hurting the public, where people cannot get to where they need to go.”

Now that the government has reopened, federal workers are returning to regular operations. National parks are reopening, museums are opening their doors and federal courts are resuming their normal dockets. Some  government services, such as  food assistance programs like SNAP, air travel operations and federal worker payroll    systems   will    still    take    time to   fully  ease   back   into  operation.