Congressional leaders have been trading blame over the likely Oct. 1 government shutdown, with Republicans pushing for a short-term funding bill through Nov. 21 and Democrats demanding long-term health care provisions. But many Americans likely view the whole debate with some confusion. Here are a few points of clarity.
A government shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass either all the usual annual appropriations bills (or a continuing resolution to temporarily extend funding while budget work continues).
In that circumstance, agencies funded by discretionary funding, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Park Service, are left without approved funds and must stop operations.
The shutdown does not mean, however, a complete halt of all activity – and there are failsafes in place particularly to prevent vital operations from being interrupted over what amounts to a not-uncommon degree of political gridlock in Congress.
Mandatory programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, continue, as do essential services, like the crucial work of the nation’s military, law enforcement, and air traffic control. Employees in these areas typically go without pay until funding is restored, however.
Shutdowns also come with an economic cost. The Congressional Budget Office found the latest shutdown in 2019 delayed about $18 billion in federal spending, which led to an $8-billion cut from the first-quarter gross domestic product. According to the report, roughly $3 billion of that sum could not be recovered.
This year, Republicans have argued their plan is a nonpartisan way to avoid a lapse. In a Sept. 30 CNBC interview, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the GOP’s 24-page bill was a simple way to keep the government open. He warned that a shutdown would leave troops unpaid, food assistance delayed, and FEMA offline during hurricane season.
The White House issued its own warning the same day, stating that a lapse would stall veterans’ care, law enforcement pay, and small business loans, among other things.
President Donald Trump insisted Democrats would be to blame for any lapse. In a Sept. 29 phone interview with Politico, he accused them of trying to “destroy health care in America by giving it to millions and millions of illegal aliens.”
Democratic leaders Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., countered that Republicans were the ones risking a shutdown by refusing to meet Democrats’ demands, as CatholicVote reported.
Trump, however, told reporters at the Oval Office Sept. 30 that while his administration does not want a shutdown, “a lot of good can come from shutdowns.”
“We’re doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down,” he said. “But a lot of good can come down from shutdowns. We get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things. But they want open borders, they want men playing in women’s sports, they want transgender for everybody.”