Since October 1, the U.S. has been experiencing a government shutdown. The shutdown was caused by the filibuster, which, according to National Public Radio, “is a long-standing tactic in the Senate to delay or block votes on legislation by keeping the debate running.”
The federal budget expired on October 1, and a lack of consensus on the new government funding budget led the government to enter a shutdown. Recently, President Donald Trump proposed getting rid of the filibuster, meaning the Senate would no longer require a 60-vote threshold to end debate on any piece of legislation, in turn allowing the Republican majority to have an advantage over the Democrat minority in the Senate.
According to the BBC, “Republicans say they want to negotiate the health insurance subsidies separately”, while “Democrats believe their efforts to secure cheaper healthcare are popular with voters.”
Trump’s calls to end the filibuster came on Thursday, Oct. 30, as he made his stance on Truth Social, arguing that “BECAUSE OF THE FACT DEMOCRATS HAVE GONE STONE COLD CRAZY” they need to “INITIATE THE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’” and end the filibuster in the Senate.
William McColloch, associate professor of economics at Keene State, detailed some of the repercussions the shutdown could have in the state of New Hampshire.
“I think the withdrawal of SNAP benefits is the most impactful element,” McColloch said. “Though of course that depends on how long the shutdown continues. If we have a shutdown that continues well into November, that is the period in where we’ll start to see those additional contributions to people’s SNAP accounts not being made.”
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), also known as food stamps, helps low-income families gain access to food.
“That will have significant consequences for both New Hampshire and other states,” McColloch said. “Particularly for New Hampshire because, as far as I know, there hasn’t yet been any state plan to meet that gap or provide any emergency assistance in place of federal government support.”
McColloch reflected on the fact that the shutdown is “extraordinarily long” and that it’s “pretty difficult to say” when it will end.
McColloch also mentioned that a government shutdown such as the one happening now happened during the first Trump administration, but that the current shutdown raises concerns over federal spending being restored once it ends.
“It’s far less clear in this instance that that’s gonna happen,” McColloch said. “Particularly for federal employees, whether or not they are really gonna receive that pay back… if that spending is not delayed and truly doesn’t happen then the impacts are massive.”
“All of the predictions on the broader impact, on the economy, on GDP, are really premised on the assumption that that spending is eventually going to happen once the government reopens,” McColloch went on. “If, even a portion of that doesn’t occur, then we are talking about a very deep impact. An impact that really would, at least for the fourth quarter of the year, more or less eliminate economic growth.”
According to the Department of Health and Human Resources, “To assist the more than 75,000 Granite Staters who receive SNAP benefits, the State [NH] plans to partner with the New Hampshire Food Bank to increase SNAP recipients’ access to food through the Food Bank’s mobile food pantry program and traditional food pantries.”
With money from the Agriculture Department Contingency fund, SNAP food benefits are to be restored at half the amount that is regularly provided as of Nov. 3.
Chloe Erno can be contacted at
