United States federal government shutdown of 1990
Okay kiddo, so you know how the government is in charge of a lot of things like schools, roads, and parks? Well, sometimes the people in the government can’t agree on how to spend money for these things.
In 1990, the government was trying to make a budget, which is a plan for how to spend money. But the people in charge of the government, called Congress, couldn’t agree on what to do. Some people wanted to spend more money on things they thought were important, while others wanted to spend less.
Since they couldn’t agree, they decided to stop working and shut down the government for a little while until they could figure things out. This meant a lot of people who work for the government had to stop working too.
People like park rangers and museum workers couldn’t go to work, and some important services like food safety inspections and passport processing stopped too. It was kind of like when your school closes because of snow, but for the whole country.
The shutdown didn’t last too long, but it was still a big deal because it showed that sometimes the government can’t agree on things and that affects all of us.
In 1990, the government was trying to make a budget, which is a plan for how to spend money. But the people in charge of the government, called Congress, couldn’t agree on what to do. Some people wanted to spend more money on things they thought were important, while others wanted to spend less.
Since they couldn’t agree, they decided to stop working and shut down the government for a little while until they could figure things out. This meant a lot of people who work for the government had to stop working too.
People like park rangers and museum workers couldn’t go to work, and some important services like food safety inspections and passport processing stopped too. It was kind of like when your school closes because of snow, but for the whole country.
The shutdown didn’t last too long, but it was still a big deal because it showed that sometimes the government can’t agree on things and that affects all of us.