On Capitol Hill, Tuesday night, lawmakers were unable to divert from a federal shutdown, following the Oct 1, deadline for a new funding package. As a result of the federal shutdown, the ‘President’s own’ United States Marine Band which was scheduled to perform at Harrisonburg High School on Wednesday evening was canceled. 

The United States Marine Band apologized to patrons for the inconvenience, as they are “unable to perform public facing concerts until further notice,” the official account posted to Instagram early Wednesday morning.

Sophomore, Mateo Starling, feels disappointed that the concert was canceled.

“I am very disappointed, frustrated and kind of angry because it’s one of the best bands in the world, that were going to come to perform at the high school for free, and now it’s canceled because of politics,” Starling said.

On the other hand, senior Sam Wyse understands the need for a shutdown and would rather have positive outcomes of the shutdown than a concert.

“It’s disappointing but also healthcare [costs] need to be lowered, so if the GOP doesn’t want to lower healthcare premiums and refuses to work with the democratic party, then I don’t really blame the [democratic party],” Wyse said.

The October 1. shutdown of the federal government makes it the 22nd shutdown to have happened since 1976. The longest shutdown lasting 35 days from December 2018 to January 2019.

The Congressional Budget Office, estimates that about 750,000 federal employees will go unpaid each day the government is shutdown, which is estimated to total roughly 400 million dollars of wages furloughed each day.

Teachers in Harrisonburg City Public Schools will continue to be paid, as they are employees of the city of Harrisonburg, not the Federal Government.