Trinity Expects Uncertainty, But No Major Issues, During Government Shutdown

Savannah Brooks ’26

Editor-in-Chief

On Wednesday, Oct. 1, the United States government shut down at midnight for the first time since the longest government shutdown in history during Donald Trump’s first term in 2018. A government shutdown occurs when Congress and the president are unable to pass a spending bill to fund federal operations. While Republicans currently control both houses in Congress as well as the presidency, a spending bill needs 60 votes in the Senate in order to pass, requiring the 53 Senate Republicans to add the votes of at least seven Democrats to pass the bill (eight, if Rand Paul (R-KY) continues to vote against the bill). This spending bill is a continuing resolution, a type of budget legislation used to fund the government at current levels when full budget negotiations break down. With the exception of John Fetterman (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Angus King (I-ME), Senate Democrats have generally refused to allow the continuing resolution to pass until it includes an extension for expiring Obamacare subsidies. 

The Tripod spoke to Chief of Staff and Associate Vice President for External Affairs Jason Rojas M’12 regarding what the Trinity community can expect as the shutdown heads into its second week. “Worst case scenario,” he told the Tripod, “the governor’s office thinks it could last a month.” Despite the looming cuts to government services and closures of federal offices, Rojas does not expect Trinity to face many major issues.

“You can begin to see people receiving slower service,” Rojas said. “It becomes a question of, is there anyone there to answer the phone if a student or faculty member has a travel issue or a visa issue? You begin to see those delays.” Since Trinity is a smaller institution which does not receive the same amount of federal funding that larger universities such as Yale or Harvard receive, there will not be the same level of disruption. Trinity maintains a relationship with federal delegation staff in Connecticut in order to work with other institutions of higher education to keep Connecticut members of Congress informed regarding how the shutdown is impacting colleges and universities.

For any member of the Trinity community who is impacted by the shutdown, Rojas emphasized that there are institutional resources which can offer support. Faculty members can work with the Dean of Faculty’s office and students can notify the relevant department or office, depending on what issue they may be experiencing. According to Rojas, Trinity is using their national network “to monitor what’s happening and how people are responding. If we need to respond, is it just lending our voice? Is it calling our member of Congress directly?”

The shutdown comes in the wake of a number of federal funding cuts by the Trump administration, many of them directly aimed at research funding housed at colleges and universities. According to Rojas, as of spring 2025, the five active federal grants which Trinity faculty members had received were still in effect. However, active applications do currently face delays, both due to the shutdown and cuts to federal offices.