Potential Fallout of the U.S. Government Shutdown: Jobs, Travel, and Public Services

Thu Oct 16 2025 12:46:36 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

The recent shutdown of the U.S. federal government is set to affect various aspects of life for millions of Americans, including job security, air travel efficiency, and national park access. Explore how this political gridlock will disrupt services and livelihoods across the nation.

Following the failure to resolve budget issues by Congress, the U.S. federal government has entered a shutdown that threatens to leave 800,000 federal workers on unpaid leave and disrupt essential services. Travel delays, closure of national parks, and interruptions in social programs such as Medicare and Medicaid are among the expected impacts.

The US federal government has shut down after Republican and Democratic lawmakers failed to resolve a budget standoff. The impasse affects the funding of government operations through October and beyond, poised to cause widespread disruption for Americans in areas ranging from air travel to zoo visits.

The political gridlock is also expected to put 40% of the federal workforce – about 800,000 people – on unpaid leave. Here's how its impact will be felt across the country.

Your next flight

A federal shutdown will hit flyers in a variety of ways, potentially leading to long security queues and delays caused by unpaid air traffic controllers choosing to stay home rather than work for free. Air traffic control and Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) workers are considered essential, so they will continue to go to work in the event of a shutdown. However, they will not be paid until the shutdown ends. During the last shutdown in 2018-2019, these workers increasingly began to call in sick, leading to airport delays. Impact will also be felt by Americans planning to travel abroad, with US passport agencies warning that it could take longer than usual to process travel documents.

No work - or pay - for federal workers

Federal employees are expected to be hardest hit, as they will not receive any paycheck while the shutdown continues. Some workers may choose to take second jobs, as they have during previous shutdowns. Employees that are not deemed to be essential will be forced to stay home. In the past, these workers have then been paid retrospectively. Several agencies, like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, are likely to furlough many workers, affecting ongoing research and experiments already in progress. Furthermore, contractors, who work for federal agencies but are not directly employed by the government, will miss out on work, too, as historically they have not received any backpay.

National Parks with no staff

Federal lands, including National Parks and National Forests, have been closed off to visitors during past shutdowns, since the rangers and other employees were asked to stay at home. During the last shutdown, the Trump administration made the decision to leave parks open, with few to no federal workers there to staff them, which led to vandalism and littering in parks. A group of more than 40 former park superintendents have appealed to the White House to completely close parks down in the event of a shutdown.

Visit to the zoo

Washington DC's famous Smithsonian Institution museums will stay open until at least next Monday. On the Smithsonian website, the organisation indicated that it had money available from previous years to stay open. However, the popular webcams will be shut off, as they have been deemed non-essential by zoo staff.

Health care for the elderly and poor

Medicare and Medicaid will continue, but staffing shortages could lead to some interruptions for certain services. Emergency disaster relief is also expected to be largely unaffected. However, if the shutdown drags out, FEMA could run out of money for its Disaster Relief Fund. Food assistance programmes will also see impacts, with some expected to rapidly run out of funds.