Tag Archives: US

US government

By: Abreham Debele

White House north side. 3 September 2013 by: Martin Falbisoner via Wikimedia Commons

The American government system is set up in a way that makes sure that no single person or group can obtain too much power. After defeating Great Britain in the American Revolution, the leaders of the new country wrote the Constitution in 1787. The Constitution set up the country as a democratic republic. This allows regular citizens to vote for representatives who make laws and run the country.

To keep things equal, the government is split up into three different parts, or branches, which creates a system of checks and balances. This makes it so each part can stop the other parts from doing wrong.

The first branch is the legislative branch, which we know as congress. Their job is to make laws for the country. Congress is split into two groups, the senate, where every state gets two people, and the House of Representatives, where the states with larger populations have more representatives.

The second part is the executive branch, which is mostly led by the president. The president’s job is to enforce the laws that congress makes and enforces.

The final part is the judicial branch, this is the court system. The court that’s at the top is the Supreme Court, and its job is to make sure all laws are fair and abide by the Constitution.

America also has another system called federalism. This basically divides the powers between the main national government and the individual state governments. The national government’s job is to handle important tasks like printing money, national defense, and foreign policy. While the state government’s job is to issue licenses, enforce local laws, and running schools. The general job of the government at any level is to serve the people.

What is a government shutdown?

By: Alayanna Bouwens

Photo by Tom Fisk on Pexels.com

A government shutdown happens when Congress doesn’t pass funding bills in time; funding bills or “appropriation bills” act like a budget plan and are  designed to fund the government until the end of each government year or “fiscal year” which ends on September 30. During a government shutdown, essential services related to national security and public safety, like emergency medical care, air traffic security and control, law enforcement, and border security, continue to function, though they may face disruptions. 

During this time government workers like air traffic control workers, senators, military employees, FBI workers, border control, etc. are paid something called “back pay” which is a pay check they receive of money that has been stored in case of a shutdown. Workers that are essential to the functioning of our government are required to work without pay while workers that are deemed not essential like department of education workers, NASA employees, national park services staff, etc. are sent home for the remainder of the shutdown. 

This government shutdown affects us because it interrupts government services, delays things like loans, makes longer lines and more delays at airports, national parks and museums close as they have a lack of funding. Lots of small business struggle as loans come to a halt, and causes financial uncertainty for government employees. Overall, it doesn’t affect our day to day lives (if you don’t work for a government agency) but it is still an important subject to know about as a shutdown is a big thing and affects government functions and staff heavily.

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