Government shutdown hits home

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN HITS HOME

Two Kent State students share their experiences after being affected by the partial government shutdown.

WORDS BY Amanda Levine

PHOTOS BY Bobbi Broome

ILLUSTRATION BY Elliot Burr

JENNA PLETCHER WAS EXCITED to begin her Spring 2019 semester in Washington D.C. There, she would take classes twice a week in addition to an internship with the Department of Justice three times a week. But with the government shutdown, Pletcher wasn’t able to begin her semester the way she wanted to.

Pletcher, a senior with a double major in English and history, filed her background check, which takes six to eight weeks to process. Since the form was non-essential, Pletcher says her application was delayed.

“Emotionally, it was very strange because I’ve never lived in a city before,” Pletcher says. “D.C. is amazing, but the rest of the program for three days a week everybody was at work, a whole eight hour day and so I’m home alone, I don’t have anything to do.”

Hannah Engle, a senior with a double major in political science and international relations, was in the same situation as Pletcher. Engle started her application process in March 2018 and began filling out the application for an internship in August. When the government shut down, her application was still being processed, thus delaying the start of her internship.

“Here I am with 23 other students who are so excited to work in D.C. and have the D.C. experience and I’m watching all of them do what they came here to do and I’m just sitting in my apartment not able to do anything,” Engle says. “With the government shut down, the museums weren’t open, all of the memorials were covered in trash because they can’t pick up the trash and it was a really bad experience for the first four weeks.”

With the semester in full force and no clear end to the shutdown, they watched their friends go off to their internships everyday. With museums closed, Engle and Pletcher weren’t able to explore the city how they wanted to either.

In the midst of the shutdown, both Engle and Pletcher had to find new internships and other ways to fill the time. Pletcher received an offer from Capitol Hill Consulting Group, while Engle searched for another internship as well, eventually landing a position at a Rep. Ted Yoho’s office. But then, about a week after receiving their new internships, the shutdown ended.

“My program coordinator was really trying to keep me high spirited because I can’t tell you how many times I came home and would just cry because I was so uncertain about everything and didn’t know if I was gonna have a job or internship or if they were going to send me home because I didn’t have an internship,” Engle says.

AJ Leu, the College of Communication & Information diversity director, met with students who were impacted by the shutdown. Leu helps students get the necessary resources they need to succeed, whether that be scholarships or textbooks.

“Our approach to diversity is very holistic, very inclusive. Really, it’s to remove any sort of barriers that are preventing students from being successful,” Leu says.

Leu says that a large number of military students were impacted.

“I also saw a lot of military people unfortunately, which is so messed up,” Leu says. “You know, the people who’ve dedicated their lives are not even getting the money that they’re supposed to get.”

Some military members were receiving paychecks based off of their branch and position, but students who were covered by the Government Issue (GI) Bill were struggling. Additionally, students who had to go to drill during that time also weren’t being compensated.

“I mean, if they’re not getting their GI Bill, they’re not going to drill, they’re not getting paid for working, they have no income whatsoever,” Leu says.

For those who were worried about tuition payments, the university sent a document to One Stop Student Services addressing issues to help with payment, but there was no email sent to students.

In an email sent to the colleges, for currently registered Spring 2019 students: “Provide them with an extended payment period for their spring balance. Their due date will be extended to at least 60 days after the conclusion of the government shutdown. Ensure they are not subject to late fees, registration and/or transcript holds during the spring term.”

Mark Cassell, a professor in the Department of Political Science, focuses on public policy. Cassell says if parents aren’t being compensated at their jobs, it could affect students’ ability to go to school.

“It’s not clear how it’ll play out, but I think the shutdown sort of illustrates the damage that a shutdown can incur. I think we all got to see it firsthand and it wasn’t pleasant,” Cassell says. “No one really wins.”

Cassell says the United States is one of the few countries where we see the government partially shut down.

“It’s sort of unique,” Cassell says. “For example, during the Clinton years, it’s typically a tension between branches of government and it’s a way in which one branch can try to exercise leverage of another branch.”

President Trump’s government shutdown lasted a record-breaking 35 days. Starting on Dec. 22, 2018, Trump shut down the government because he wanted more than $5 billion for a border wall. Democrats and Republicans weren’t able to reach a compromise on funding to keep the government open. This was the third government shutdown during Trump’s presidency.

A Kent State student struggles with finances amidst the government shutdown.

Federal workers weren’t receiving paychecks and people who relied on federal money for rent were worried about eviction, according to an article from Reuters. Prior to the ending of the three-week-long shutdown, there were chances of programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) losing funding, according to CBS News. According to the Congressional Budget Office estimates, the partial shutdown delayed $18 billion in federal spending and suspended some federal services, thus lowering the projected level of real GDP in the first quarter of 2019 by $8 billion (in 2019 dollars), or 0.2 percent.”

With federal workers going to work unpaid, employees weren’t able to give back to the economy in ways such as paying taxes and buying groceries. The effects of the government shutdown expanded to federal programs being temporarily shut down as well. The Food and Drug Administration had stopped food inspections, but resumed in mid January according to an article from CNN.

“Politicians, especially conservative politicians, are very critical of government, and I think it does a disservice because we need people who inspect our food, help clean our air,” Cassell says. “Or we need people who man the IRS and staff the IRS and make sure our parks work.”

On Jan. 25, President Trump agreed to end the shutdown for three weeks to reach a funding deal. It was unclear what a temporary opening of the government would look like. Funding for programs resumed and Trump signed a bill that compensated government workers for their missed pay. Cassell says the government shutdown is less of President Trump’s problem and more of the Republican Party’s.

“Even though Trump is sort of the figurehead, ultimately it’s the Republican Party that’s driving us,” Cassel says. “I think for the Democrats, ceding ground on it would be problematic for them because if it was effective this time, one could see it being an effective tool the next time the Republican party or the Democratic party for that matter wants to pursue a policy that the opposition is opposed to. It’s a very dangerous approach.”

Despite the pushback from Democrats, Republicans and President Trump worked on a spending bill for the border wall. In order to avoid another shutdown, Democrats proposed a bill at about $1.3 billion for the border wall, according to CNN. President Trump then declared a national emergency after signing a bill for his border wall.

After the shutdown ended and Pletcher’s background check went through, she and Engle were able to begin their internships. But because they were beginning in week five, they had already missed out on a third of their program.

“I really hope that the president and the government take into consideration that when they do shut down the government, they’re not just affecting one person’s life, they’re affecting hundreds of thousands of people’s lives,” Engle says. “I think sometimes we forget to see the big picture whether you’re the president of the United States or you’re just a common worker.”

AMANDA LEVINE | alevine3@kent.edu