Photo credit: Phoebe Measer

A poster lies on a Whole Foods checkout counter. Electronic Benefits Transfer is the electronic system used to deliver Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to qualifying people, whose funds were affected by the government shutdown. SNAP/EBT is accepted at most grocery stores, including Walmart, Target, Kroger, Aldi, Safeway, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

The government reopened Nov. 12 after the longest shutdown in history — 43 days. For many, this meant 43 days without receiving their paychecks, delays or pauses in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, longer travel waits, lack of funding for schools and more. Beginning Wednesday, Oct. 1, and ending Wednesday, Nov. 12, the shutdown meant “nonessential” operations ceased for an almost two-month period.

The government shut down after Congress failed to pass appropriations legislation for the 2026 fiscal year. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate must approve a spending plan for it to be eligible for presidential approval. The House cleared a temporary funding bill to avoid a shutdown, but the Senate did not. Given that the Republican Party is in control of both the House and the Senate, the Senate needed more Democrat votes in order to pass the spending bill.

President Trump signed a bill to end the shutdown titled, “Continuing Appropriations, Agriculture, Legislative Branch, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Extensions Act, 2026,” Wednesday, Nov. 12. The Continuing Resolution aims to extend money to most federal agencies until Jan. 30, 2026. However, the government is at a higher risk of shutting down after the CR expires, especially if political tensions remain high.

Kieren Lander is a junior at Lakenheath High School in Lakenheath, England. His school is part of the Department of Defense Education Activity and serves military-connected high school students. DoDEA schools are funded by the national government. Lander was in his football season at the time and said the shutdown had major impacts on school and sports programming.

“For two weeks, our sports team couldn’t travel because the government pays for our funding, and the teachers weren’t getting paid, so that was a major thing,” Lander said. “Then, we couldn’t have practice for two weeks.”

Lander said his school’s homecoming dance had to be postponed to around a month later. In the meantime, the Student Council organized “NoCo,” which Lander said was more of a “gradewide meetup” than a dance.

Mason Molitor is a senior at a public school in Saint Louis, Missouri. He said his sister takes the bus to and from school, but during the shutdown, he would often pick her up due to the delayed school buses.

“They can’t afford to pay a lot of bus drivers right now. We have a massive bus driver shortage,” Molitor said. “Most buses are late by 15 to 20 minutes every day. It’s kind of rough. Honestly, I’m grateful I drive.”

Emily DeLossa (’20), a government contractor for the Department of Health and Human Services, said she was able to continue working during the shutdown, although not being furloughed during a shutdown is atypical while working for the government. DeLossa said the shutdown impacted the supply of school lunches to public school students. According to USAFacts, an average of 20.5 million students receive a free school lunch as of 2024.

Additionally, many school services rely on HHS grant funding such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Service Administration, or the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. DeLossa wrote in an email that HHS funds school-linked programs including health education and screenings, substance-use prevention and suicide prevention. She wrote that schools may be postponing hiring counselors, social workers or psychologists, which can have a large impact on students.

“We’re already in a time where, just generally, education is having a very difficult time. We’re in a shortage of teachers all across the country, and I think more and more, the need for education is becoming increasingly important with the threats towards the education department that this administration has made,” DeLossa said. “Ensuring that kids show up to school, are fed and are doing the best that they can day to day is really important.”

Caroline Ewing runs a video production program at Shawnee Mission South High School in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. She said both parties likely had political benefits from the shutdown. The Democratic Party is pushing to keep health care subsidies alive, while the Republican Party does not want to fund said subsidies because it costs tax dollars, she said.

“If it’s not covered, a lot of Americans stand to lose affordable health care access,” Ewing said. “But on the other side, somebody’s paying that money — in the Republican eye, somebody’s paying for it. It’s just not the person [who needs health care access]. So it’s an interesting issue.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, more than 62% of SNAP participants are in families with children. SNAP benefits were cut down in July due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, reducing the breadth of qualifying people. More recently, the shutdown caused 42 million low income Americans, including 16 million children, to lose access to this program.

SNAP benefits aim to reduce food insecurity, helping low income families free up money to “pay rent or bills and purchase other essential items like diapers, medicine, or clothes,” according to the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath. Ewing said that although her household does not qualify for SNAP benefits, several students in her school community do require these benefits. According to Ewing, 36% of students at her school have free or reduced lunch.

“I did also notice a lot of community support of those families and [the] community rallying together,” Ewing said. “I saw people trying to give back and doing what they could to make sure that our communities were fed and [they] picked up the slack that the government wasn’t holding.”

SNAP supports those who are working part-time or for low wages, are unemployed, receiving welfare payments, are elderly or disabled as well as being low income, or are homeless. Research has found that having access to SNAP during early childhood stages has improved high school graduation rates, adult earnings and adult health.

“I have friends who do food stamps, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard them complaining about not getting it, but I didn’t know about that. That’s crazy,” Molitor said. “Some people rely on those — that’s your only source of food for a couple of days.”

From meal distribution services to food drives at schools or local gyms, Ewing said the communities she is involved in made an effort to help each other during the shutdown. She said she believes the government was shut down for good reason but acknowledges that it affects many people nationwide. Because these are programs that people rely on, Ewing said the government needs to come up with some viable solutions. Persisting while the government is shut down can sometimes end up paying off, according to Ewing.

“I think it’s very important that we’re standing up for the issues that are going to be really important. And sometimes I think the left sees people struggling, and they cave and then nothing gets done,” Ewing said. “I wanted there to be progress, and I want them to meet in the middle, but at the same time, if health care costs skyrocket, sometimes there does need to be a holdout. Sometimes it’s worth it.”

The CR that ended the recent shutdown will mostly kept funding at prior levels until Jan. 30, 2026, instead of delivering stable full-year budgets, DeLossa wrote in an email. Passing a CR can often mean delayed grants, delayed contract actions, slower hiring and minimum spending until the government arrives at a more permanent solution, she wrote. The voting on the CR, Jan. 30, will be a crucial decision regarding the government as a whole, DeLossa said, especially considering the heavy impacts a shutdown has on the nation.

“There’s no perfect world in politics,” DeLossa said. “There’s lots of other areas where there can be arguments about different things, but I don’t think either party is going to risk it over something other than budget. Everything’s about money in this country.”