Amidst the steady recovery from the country’s recent economic recession the government of the United States has shut down. This occurrence can appear to be a frightening and drastic crisis, and this fear is aided because the meaning behind the term, government shutdown, is unclear to many people. Similar to the general understanding of the term in its entirety, many people are unclear as to the reasons why the government has shut down.

     A government shutdown means that all government operations that do not relate to public safety, national security, or exist as a permanent law shall see their operations shut down. Employees who are deemed un-essential to protecting life and property will be cut from their respective agencies.

     Government operations that are deemed un-essential, and consequently will be cut, include but are not limited to; the running of national parks, the regulation of the environment, clinical research, and the activities of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
     This conditional shutdown ensures that vital departments and operations such as the United States military, social security, and emergency medical care along with many other government operations are not shut down. Congress will not be shut down due to the fact that congressional pay is a permanent law.
     The reason why the United States government has shut down is simple at face value, Congress has not been able to decide on a way to fund the government and with no way to be funded, the government shuts down.
     While Congress debates over a way to fund the government, hundreds of thousands of federal workers may go without a paycheck.