The United States House of Representatives passed a bill to keep the government funded, narrowly avoiding a last-minute shutdown.
The role of the House of Representatives is to make and pass federal laws or legislation. There are delegates from all 50 states, making a total of no more than 435 voters to represent the nation and their state.
After the House of Representatives decides on a bill, it is sent to the Senate. If the Senate approves it, it is sent to the president to sign.
Last month, the House was tasked with electing a replacement for Kevin McCarthy, a former House speaker who was voted out on Oct. 3. Without a speaker, the House cannot pass legislation. And, even before McCarthy was voted out, fear of a government shutdown surfaced because of the little progress Congress made on budget negotiations.
“I think McCarthy should have negotiated harder to avoid this mess,” said Darrell Ye, a senior at Carlmont High School.
Yet, the election of the new speaker, Rep. Mike Johnson, quelled those fears. Elected on Oct. 25, Johnson was assigned the role to devise a plan to avoid a government shutdown before Nov. 17.
The House votes were 336 to 95 in favor of his bill, allowing government funding to continue. The decision was made on Nov. 14, 2023.
The Senate also approved this bill on Nov. 15, 2023, and finally, on Nov. 16, President Joe Biden signed it, effectively preventing the government shutdown.
Despite this news, many people are upset with how the Republican House members handled the situation.
“With just days left before an extreme Republican shutdown — and after shutting down Congress for three weeks after they ousted their own leader — House Republicans are wasting precious time with an unserious proposal that has been panned by members of both parties,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a press release.
People still feel dissatisfied after the final decision, especially because this is just a temporary solution, and there may be a situation like this again in the next year.
However, some are less worried than others about a possible government shutdown. If the government shuts down and funding halts, not every government-run facility will crash immediately.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is one example of a government-funded job that will still run without government funding.
“Our main income is from postage, so as long as delivery continues, we should be okay,” said Darryl Qiu, a post office worker.
Since USPS does not rely solely on government funds, there wouldn’t be a huge issue that would prevent the post office from running.
“There would not be too many differences in the short term, but it would become a problem in the long term,” Qiu said.
