The US government is shut down. Been shut down for over 3 weeks now. Doesn’t seem to be any solution on the near horizon, either. There’s been plenty of press coverage. The number of days is covered regularly. There are daily interviews with representatives of each side spouting the exact same lines that have been fed to them by their handlers for 24 days. The press is now beginning to do their 90 second segments on some of the impacts of having the government closed for an extended period of time. So, lots of press coverage, but not much that is truly informative about this important issue or the consequences. Maybe, we should take a look. Not an unbiased look, necessarily, but a look nevertheless.

What is a government shutdown?

A government shutdown is when the government is shutdown. Nah, just kidding. The country’s founders, as they separated the powers inherent in a government, wisely gave to the Congress “the power of the purse”. Congress controls the money. Each year, Congress determines the spending limits for each agency and what activities within those agencies are designated to receive funding. Normally, the level of detail from Congress goes all the way down to the program level. For example, when I was at CDC, Congress told me exactly how much money I could spend on my Asthma activities or Lead Prevention and even circumscribed those activities. This is done throughout the entire executive branch.

Years ago, the two parties would iron out their differences and pass the various department budgets in the spring, well before the beginning of the next fiscal year on October 1. As the political divide has become deeper and more contentious, this basic function of Congress has generally ceased to operate and the October deadline is almost never met. What we have now is each year the government of the most powerful nation in the world lurches from one “continuing resolution” to the next continually accompanied by midnight deadlines and unrestrained political posturing. When the 2 parties cannot even agree to a continuing resolution the federal government runs out of money and immediately stops. The government shuts down.

Why now?

Of the 5 major questions on any subject (who, what, where, when, and why) why is always the thorny one. Those of you who watch Law and Order reruns can testify to this. The “why” in any situation is always multi-factorial and relatively complex. So it is in “The Case of the Disappearing Budget”. Both the Republicans and the Democrats blame their opponents and one side is lying. Can you guess which?

When the Republicans passed their “no good, God awful bill” this summer (I think they called it something else), they essentially gutted health care and health care insurance for the poor and the lower middle class. Not only was Medicaid severely curtailed, but subsidies for health care insurance for people below certain income levels were also rescinded. Also, the Republican bill severely limited the legal aliens (people in this country legally, but not yet citizens) who could qualify for health care. Finally, Trump’s awful bill cut the funding for Emergency Medicaid. Emergency Medicaid is a fund used to reimburse hospitals for emergency care for people who do not qualify for Medicaid (sometimes patients in this country illegally). Care that the hospitals are mandated to provide by a 1986 law signed by President Ronald Reagan. Democrats have consistently stated that they will not vote for any budget for the next fiscal year that does not restore the funding for all of these benefits.

On the other hand, the Republicans like very much the direction that the country is currently heading and are not willing to compromise on the cuts to the poor that they pushed through over the summer. You have to pay for the rich people’s tax cuts somehow. They have rallied around one consistent message. From the first day on the impasse, all Republicans have said the exact same lie – The Democrats are causing the shutdown because they want to give health care to illegal aliens. That’s a lie. Let’s be clear. People in this country illegally are not eligible for government benefits of any kind and never have been. That includes Medicaid and food stamps. And NO, don’t say, “But they’re still getting those benefits.” They’re not. They never have been. It was made up by the Republicans.

The Democrats have drawn a line in the sand to try and save health benefits and health insurance subsidies for the poor and working class. The Republicans have insisted that they will not yield, but that they will meet with the Democrats on these issues after a continuing resolution is passed and the government reopens. Shockingly, the Democrats don’t believe them. Essentially, this is why the government has been shuttered for 24 days.

Impacts of the Shutdown

A simple rule to bear in mind regarding this or any government shutdown: The longer the shutdown, the greater the impacts. Economists project a 0.1% to 0.2% points ($7.6 billion to $15.2 billion) off the annual growth rate for each week that the shutdown continues just based on Federal employees not receiving salaries. Of course, the economic impact is much greater when you consider that all government contracts are in abeyance and the contractors are also out of work.

Your food is not being inspected. There is no one inspecting pharmaceutical plants. The National Weather Service is providing no data. Small business loans are not being made. Farm loans are not moving forward. The agricultural forecasts essential to farmers for planning for the next planting season have been suspended. National parks and museums are closed or severely limited. Air traffic controllers are not being paid. They are working, but not being paid. How long do you think that can go on? Visas and passports are not being processed. The list is practically endless. Directly or indirectly, your life is being impacted and as this drags on the impacts will become much more clear.

There is one unique aspect to this particular shutdown that we have not witnessed in previous occurrences. This is the first administration that wants to break the US government. Actually smash it into smithereens. So this administration not only is willing to tolerate the shutdown to gain political points, but is actually cheering on the turmoil so that they can use the anarchy to more fully gut agencies and derail missions. So strange and so dangerous. And we’re only 9 months in.

Keep in mind one important fact as you watch what transpires over the next few weeks: Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid or any other government aid and nowhere in any Democratic proposal have they suggested that they want to extend such coverage to undocumented immigrants.

Post Notes

Lucy, my dog, has decided that she doesn’t want me writing these essays any longer. After all these years, yesterday she repeatedly started crying and moaning at me while I was at my desk. Pits are the most stubborn dogs in the world, so we are going to have to have a meeting of the minds here somehow. Not sure I’m going to come out on top.

I’m sitting here with another tear in the meniscus cartilage of my left knee. Same one that I had surgery on a year ago. This time I’m trying to rehab it myself. What could go wrong? Years ago, there was a moving poem titled, “To An Athlete Dying Young”. Where is the same feeling expressed “For An Athlete Getting Old”?