As of this past Wednesday, the federal government has officially shut down. Thousands of workers have been furloughed, countless departments have suspended operations, and many crucial civil servants must now work without pay for an indefinite period. While this isn’t the first federal shutdown caused by a budget impasse (a 35-day shutdown, the longest in American history, occurred from late 2018 to early 2019 during Trump’s first term) the current economic and political conditions make this a