Closed for Business
Federal government agencies rely on funding provided and approved by Congress in an annual budget. If an agreement regarding the funding requests is not reached by the start of the fiscal year (i.e. October 1), then there are two possible outcomes. If possible, Congress may agree on temporary funding based on prior requests through a continuing resolution, with the assumption that it will end as soon as the annual budget is agreed; continued disagreement will result in a government shutdown where all non-essential discretionary functions are discontinued. "Essential services" refer to public safety amenities that continue to operate, with workers being required to show up without pay. They include border protection, hospital care, air traffic control, law enforcement, and power grid maintenance.
Due to the recent shutdown, federal workers and contractors have gone without pay for over a month, many of whom rely on regular paychecks to meet their rent or mortgage payment, buy food, pay for transportation expenses and cover their other bills. In fact nearly 80 percent of U.S. workers say they live paycheck to paycheck (Carter 2019).
Approximately 420,000 critical employees have reported to work without pay in the entire duration of the shutdown ( USA Today 2019). Although Congress passed a bill to reimburse federal exempt employees for lost wages once the shutdown ends, contract workers will not reimbursed. It is also important to consider the lives impacted indirectly by the government shutdown. For example, many tourist destinations such as museums remained closed during the shutdown, causing tourism to suffer and inadvertently hurting the restaurant owners, hotels and small businesses that cater to tourists.
According to an estimate on Friday from S&P Global Ratings, the cost of the 35-day shutdown was close to $6 billion, more than the monetary demand for the wall (Guardian 2019) Direct costs on lost productivity from furloughed government workers and indirect costs from lost economic activity to outside businesses because of the shutdown amplified as the shutdown continued. Fortunately, the government shutdown ended temporarily on January 25th, 2019.
However the deal was temporary and a sense of uncertainty prevailed in the nation. The Democrats were unwilling to compromise with regard to funding a border wall, and President Trump had not retracted his demand for border wall funding.
The fact that President Trump acquiesced to Democratic demands so that a bipartisan deal could be struck took many by surprise and led to speculation. Speculation that was proven true when President Trump declared a national emergency regarding illegal immigration. Although one can debate the merits of the President Trump’s Declaration of National Emergency, the bigger question remains: what will happen next? A sense of uncertainty prevails.
Congressional representatives and the President maybe the ones to blame for the impasse; however, it is federal employees and their families who paid the price for partisan politics. Congressional representatives and the President could not relate to the plight of federal employees who missed their paychecks or the small business owners whose businesses suffered because they could not take out loans simply because of the inaction of Congress and the President. Even now, Washington, D.C., remains fraught with political tension with the Legislative Branch and the Executive branch at odds with one another. It seems that our leaders have forgotten that “unity is strength and division is weakness”.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/15/federal-workers-who-arent-being-paid-owe-438-million-for-housing.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/25/shutdown-latest-news-trump-reopens-government-deal-democrats
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46927916
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46815227
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/24/government-shutdown-has-wide-impact-numbers/2666872002/