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Government shutdown affects 800K workers
By Morgan Severson Assistant Editor
In the wake of a partial government shutdown, President Donald Trump had members of the government at a standstill over the decision of the five-billion-dollar border wall he promised during his campaign. About 25 percent of the federal government was shut down and it affected over 30 departments such as The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), National Parks and Museums, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and more. Over 800,000 employees in the shutdown departments have missed at least two paychecks. However, The House of Representatives passed a bill (with a vote of 411 to seven) on January 11, that guarantees payback to the federal employees that have been furloughed. The shutdown started on December 21, 2018 and ended January 25, 2019 (35 days) making it the longest government shutdown in American history. Trump’s shutdown has surpassed former President Bill Clinton’s 21-day shutdown from December 16, 1995 to January 5, 1996. On the last day of the shutdown, Trump agreed to reopen the government, temporarily, without a deal for building his infamous border wall. The bill that reopened the government included opening the government for three weeks (until February 15) so that federal workers could get paid and created a bipartisan committee that has been tasked with making an agreement on border security for a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending bill. Trump claimed that if a negotiation is not reached by the end of the three weeks, he will either shut down the government again or declare a National Emergency and redirect money for other uses to build the wall. “Let me be very clear, we really have no choice but to build a powerful wall or steel barrier. If we don’t get a fair deal from Congress, the government will either shut down…or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and the Constitution of the United States to address this emergency,” President Trump, in his speech ending the shutdown, said. On Thursday, January 10, President Trump traveled to the Texas-Mexico border in McAllen, Texas where he met with border patrol agents to discuss border security. The White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said that last year around 4,000 terrorists attempted to cross the US-Mexico border as a reason to validate building a border wall. However, according to a CNN fact check, the 4,000 terrorists number was a statistic from 2017 and the White House briefing was referring to stops made around the globe, mainly at airports by the DHS. “The [DHS’] press secretary released that same 3,755 figure, ignoring where those suspected terrorists were actually
stopped. This claim does not stand up to the facts and repeating it does not make it anymore true,” Jim Sciutto, a CNN reporter on the white house’s misleading claim, said. In fact, approximately 300 terrorists attempted to travel across the border while nearly 3,000 terrorists entered the US on airplanes with approved visas to enter the country. The President threatened to declare a National Emergency, calling the state of US border security a “crisis.” Congress was at an impasse on a decision on what to do for security at the southern border. Both Democrats and Republicans want tighter border security, but Trump refuses to sign a bill that does not include a wall. Both parties seem
Harvey. This idea has proved to be was an unpopular idea among Democrats and Republicans alike. Additionally, Trump was questioning whether he had the authority to withhold FEMA funds in the first place. “So, the President is now talking to his lawyers about whether he would have the authority to issue a national emergency and reprogram money that’s been allocated for other purposes, but I will tell you that I will oppose any reprogramming of Harvey disaster funds. We worked very hard to make sure that the victims of Hurricane Harvey — their concerns are addressed, and Texas is able to rebuild. And I think we are all together on that,” John Cornyn, Republican Senator
Photo courtesy of Unsplash to be firmly against from Texas, said. the other and neThe shutdown gotiations between the parties were at a effected Americans in numerous ways from standstill. During the weekend of Jan- transportation to where the next meal is comuary 11, no meetings or appearanc- ing from. The TSA was one of the biggest es were scheduled by the White House. departments effected by the shutdown and is “How does it end? It has to end with the an essential part of Homeland Security. So government running and functioning. It has many TSA members called off work, several to end with us setting back up the government airports around the country closed terminals — it will not with a wall. It will not end with or closed completely. In Houston, Terminal a wall,” Kamala Harris, Democratic Senator B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport for California and candidate for the 2020 Pres- was closed until further notice due to a staff idential election, said about the shutdown. shortage. Without a sufficient amount of On January 9, President Trump met with staff at airports, traveling by airplane could House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Mi- be a long and dangerous process. A passennority Leader Chuck Schumer but walked ger flying on Delta Airlines in Atlanta, Georout after they told him that their negotiations gia was able to get through security with a did not contain plans for a wall. Trump con- gun in their carryon bag. According to the firmed this in a tweet, saying that after Pelosi TSA, it was not due to understaffing but due said “NO” to the wall, he said “bye-bye.” Ac- to proper procedures not being followed cording to CNBC, when Schumer asked the by employees. Most TSA employees eipresident to reopen the government so federal ther called in sick or were working 40-hour workers can get paid, Trump replied “no, be- weeks without pay. The airports also asked cause then you won’t give me what I want.” its customers to come earlier for their flights As reported by Fortune, the wall is un- than normal to make up for staff shortages. popular among 69 percent of Americans. If The FDA had over 40 percent of its the government shutdown is mainly over the employees furloughed meaning that it suswall, the President has caused thousands of pended all of its routine food inspections. employees to go unpaid to please his base, This is concerning because foods like Roa small percentage of Americans. Trump maine lettuce were not being check for E. proposed withholding funds from Federal Coli. The shutdown also effected recipEmergency Management Agency (FEMA) ients of food stamps. The USDA asked and use that money to build the wall. This that citizens that use food stamps request would include stopping funds to help victims their February food stamps before Januof the California wildfires and Hurricane ary 20, to ensure that they get them be-
fore funds run out. The top three states that rely on food stamps are California, Texas and Florida, while approximately one out of ten families rely on food stamps in America. Since the Coast Guard is a part of homeland security, its members had stopped getting paid as of December 31, 2018. About 42,000 Coast Guard members were working without pay and according to the Former Coast Guard Commandant, Thad Allen, the Coast Guard is still continuing their operations from searches and rescues to stopping drug smugglers. “I think it’s pretty bad. I think when you have people providing emergency services to this country without pay, I think we ought to take a serious look at how we’re governed,” Allen said. Locally, the government shutdown effected the Houston area by making thousands of NASA employees furloughed. Not only did the shutdown put a halt to the employees’ paychecks, but to their research as well. Observatories shut down and the Hubble Space Telescope needed repairs that can only be made by furloughed employees. Additionally, many NASA employees were unable to present or attend the 233 meeting of the American Astronomical Society, also known as the “Super Bowl of Astronomy.” According to Space.com, the AAS is the largest gathering of astronomers and astrophysicists and NASA employees had to have their partners not employed by NASA to present in their absence. Additionally, around 3,000 NASA employees in the CCISD area were working without pay or were not working at all. CCISD, as well as other school districts around the country made accommodations in order to be considerate of the students whose parents or guardians were not being paid. On January 15, a small protest took place in front of the Johnson Space Center Houston as furloughed employees rallied to show their disapproval of the shutdown. Some of the signs at the protests read “I have my dream job…please let me do it,” or “will science 4 food.” The government shutdown caused economic struggles for NASA and many other unpaid employees, as many Americans live “paycheck to paycheck.” An anonymous NASA engineer started a GoFundMe to help federal workers pay their bills and it raised around 3,500 dollars. Additionally, JSC Federal Credit Union offered loans with no interest for workers affected by the shutdown. Local restaurants, like D’Amico’s Italian Market Cafe, Bistro Provence, Ouisie’s Table and the Rainbow Lodge served free meals to struggling employees. The Republican senate representative from Sugarland, Pete Olson, filed a bill in on January 15 that lets unpaid federal workers take from their retirement without penalization. However, the bill has not been approved by Congress yet. The protesters outside of NASA received many different responses from the public, some passersby honked or cheered in support while others yelled, “get a job” or “secure the border.” It is clear that America is just as divided about the decision of the border wall as the government is.