which began on October 1 after failing to approve the financing legislation corresponding to the fiscal year in Congress, is causing true chaos throughout the country. Meanwhile, negotiations in the United States Senate between Democrats and Republicans to open the federal government remain stalled.
As a result, the US is experiencing what is now the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, which is being felt in numerous sectors as media outlets around the world echo the chaos. The result is, for now, a paralysis that affects those who work to guarantee knowledge, health and protection of the environment.
This measure is also affecting the National Parks, which although many remain open, do so with minimal services and maintenance suspended. As published by the media “approximately 9,000 park rangers and National Park Service personnel are on forced leave.”
“Without them, trash accumulates in visitor centers, trails deteriorate irreparably, wildlife remains unmonitored, and the most fragile ecosystems risk permanent damage,” the same media highlights.
Thus, he points out that when the previous longest closure occurred, which took place in 2019 and lasted for 35 days, the estimated damage to national parks in the United States amounted to several tens of millions of dollars, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
The Senate meets urgently
The US Senate met this Sunday in an extraordinary session to try to put an end to 39 days of suspension of government activities that threaten to contract the GDP in the fourth quarter of 2025, in the words of the director of the White House National Economic Council, Kevin Hassent.
Hassett, speaking to CBS, recalled that the American investment bank Goldman Sachs had previously estimated that the partial government shutdown would cost the United States around 1.5% of GDP. The CEN director, however, has warned that “this figure will probably fall short” if the closure continues “for a couple more weeks.”
The suspensions of flights due to the lack of air traffic controllers or the enormous problems in distributing food aid to the population in need are among the difficulties that the US Government is going through to continue operating after the lack of agreement between Democrats and Republicans on various spending items, including health.
