Chamber of the House of Representatives of the United States of America. February 28th, 2022. Photo Credit: Stiven Contreras
The U.S. government is shutdown for the first down since 2018, who do Kennesaw State University students think is at fault? Democrats, Republicans, or neither?
On Oct. 1, 2025 congress failed to reach an agreement to fund the government, therefore resulting in the first government since 2018. The reason? Well, that’s up for debate.
Congressional Republicans say that the Democrats were refusing to agree to a short term deal to keep the government open. They claim that the bill was a “clean” funding bill. Their Democratic counterparts say that the Bill wasn’t so “clean”. Democrats believe that the bill would cut healthcare for some, it was giving the president too much power, and that their polices weren’t really included in the bill.
Students at KSU feel strongly about the topic. Some blaming government as a whole, some blaming Republicans, and some blaming Democrats.
The government shutdown has shown some instability in the government and has led to a sense of distrust in our government as a whole. Student Justine Johnson says that the government has started to lose her trust lately because of its inability to resolve this major problem.
“Right now I think the government shutdown is more deliberate than anything else. My trust in the government has dipped tremendously, and I think that it is only a natural consequence of the actions, and inactions of both congress and our president,” Johnson said.
Johnson expressed her concerns about this shutdown starting to affect the safety of Americans. She mentioned air traffic control and how important it is to have these aspects in our government functioning to the fullest ability.
Johnson mentioned the deadly collision in Philadelphia between the American Airlines passenger jet and a Blackhawk military helicopter. “It’s incidents like this that remind us that the government has control over more than just the latest legislation, the economy, and the poll numbers. They are still responsible for maintaining our society and keeping us safe.”
Other students believe that this shutdown can be fixed simply if both parties can just come to an agreement that satisfies both sides.
“I feel like this is an issue where both parties need to come to an agreement, because without it we are still going to be stuck in the same place,” Jessica Lamptey said.
“For one side to keep saying its the other parties fault, rather than working together on finding a solution is not helping our government progress.”
Many students share the same sentiment – that cooperation and compromise are the only ways to bring the government back on track.
Siding with Republican politicians, student Ashton Rawcliffe said Democrats were to blame for the shutdown.
“It really boils down to one problem, the democrats.” Rawcliffe said. “They want to take all of our tax dollars and give them to illegal aliens.”
Possibly more than anything else, the government shut down has drawn the ire of Americans due to havoc its wreaking, like federal workers not getting paid, essential services being disrupted, public safety risks and delayed benefits for some.
Rawcliffe’s concerns lies with his parents. “What concerns me the most is that my father who currently serves in the military, is not getting paid.”
Along with all of the other key issues, the shutdown also comes with the closing of many national parks around the country. Rawcliffe mentioned his mother’s trip to Maine that is not going the way she had planned, because of the closure of Acadia National park.
“My mom is on vacation in Acadia, Maine, all National parks are closed right now, so that ruins her vacation,” Racliffe said.
“That kinda makes me a little upset that my mom doesn’t get to enjoy that.”
As the shutdown continues, students at KSU remain divided in their views, but united in frustration. Many hope that lawmakers in Washington will put their differences aside and reach an agreement soon before the effects of a stalemate grow even worse.
