The government is almost back in business. The Senate passed legislation Monday in a 60-40 vote to reopen the government and end the historic government shutdown.

As lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggle to find a consensus on the government’s spending bill, Baylor students continue to go about their day-to-day lives. Trouble in Washington doesn’t impact students in Waco, or does it?

Some of these legislative changes could impact Baylor students, specifically those who utilize Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and federal financial aid. This legislation impacts students and the social welfare programs American citizens utilize.

The ACCESS at Baylor Act, which will take effect at the start of the fall 2025 semester if approved, seeks to provide the university community with the Waco Transit System, and therefore have direct routes leading to off-campus academic buildings and other important locations throughout the city.

The bill, which is the largest that student government has passed this academic year, aims to set into motion a renovation that provides students with updated study spaces featuring new furniture, redone carpet and repainted walls, which will be completed over the summer ahead of the Fall 2025 semester.

Student government, despite its name, is not best defined as a governing body. According to primary staff advisor Tanner Vickers, it’s really an “advocacy group that acts on behalf of the undergraduate student body.”

It’s no wonder news of S.686 swept the Baylor campus and the country at large as people began to dub it the TikTok Ban Bill. However, while taking away everyone’s favorite short-form video platform is noteworthy in its own right, it is a gross oversimplification of a bill that stands to threaten all of our civil rights.