By: Andrew Koch The federal government shut down after Congress failed to approve a budget before the new fiscal year began. As a result, institutions controlled by the federal government put hundreds of thousands of employees on indefinite, unpaid leave and closed government buildings across the country. Because the Constitution requires the federal budget to receive a majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to take effect, the federal government entered a shutdown when the new fiscal year began without a Congressionally-approved budget on Oct. 1. More than 800,000 employees the government deemed “non-essential” … Continue reading Congress fails to pass budget, forces government shutdown