Americans may face a government shutdown by September 30 if the congress fails to come to an agreement over funding. All eyes are on a short-term continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for 30 days.
On September 17, Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus and the Main Street Caucus had announced about reaching the agreement. A full House vote on the resolution is set to take place on September 21.
Meanwhile, in the lead up to the full House vote, things aren’t looking good for Joe Biden-led administration. US representative Tony Gonzales has weighed in on the matter and opined that government shutdown is unavoidable.
“It’s crystal clear a Gov’t shutdown is coming. I represent 66% of the Texas-Mexico border – a hollow Continuing Resolution built to win a messaging battle does nothing to keep America safe,” wrote Gonzales on “X”(formerly Twitter).
The shutdown may coincide with the date of resumption of federal student-loan payments. Notably, the loan payments was paused for more than three years because of the pandemic. The federal student-loan payments are set to resume on October 1, on which date the government may shutdown.
If the two events coincide, it will add to the troubles of borrowers. Student-loan servicers are already facing shutdown of website and call center due to the high volume of inquiries about the loan payments. There is fear that the Education Department may shut down at the same time payments are set to resume.
In the event of a shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget has contingency plans for every federal agency on how they operate. But there is fear that due to unprecedented rush of borrowers reentering repayment at once, the contingency plans might not be enough.
Notably, US government had shut down between December 22, 2018, and January 25, 2019.
