Government Shutdowns Aren’t Chess Games

The U.S. government has been shut down for almost an entire month. It is the longest government shutdown in American history, and its cost to the economy has far exceeded previous estimates. Government workers are most directly affected, as they are unable to collect federal paychecks every two weeks. According to J. David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 40,000 Bureau of Prisons employees who have been furloughed in the shutdown, “Our members get an average take-home pay of $500 a week, and next week, they aren’t going to get that,” he said. The news platform CNN has set up publicizes stories of people affected by the shutdown. One such person, Cynthia Letts, has detailed how her lack of pay from her job is impacting her life. “I moved and began my new federal job one week before the shutdown. I spent most of my savings getting here, and [I] can't pay the rent without a job. I'm looking at homelessness,” she said. Without the pay previously guaranteed by a federal job, workers are losing their financial security and safety. If President Trump claims to support American workers, then he should not be putting them at risk for his political gain.

Another economic problem caused by the government shutdown involves the Internal Revenue Service. Due to the shutdown, the IRS is shutting down many functions it deems “nonessential,” including tax refunds. According to a study published by the IRS, the average tax refund is $3,050. These were already under threat due to the President’s tax plan, but they will be completely suspended due to the government shutdown. This directly affects the well-being of some Americans who depend on their tax refunds to support their lives. Brandi Taylor tells a story of how the suspension of tax refunds affects her ability to pay for her house. “We always repay the missed payment with February’s or March's tax refund. If I cannot repay that missed payment by then, foreclosure is a very real possibility,” she said. It’s also important to note that IRS workers are also dealing with the pay issue striking the aforementioned government workers.

Yet, another way low-income citizens may suffer due to the shutdown is through the lack of food stamps. Food stamps are at risk of being cut within the next two months, and staffing for the federal program that oversees them has been reduced by a whopping 95 percent. Ravyn Senter describes how she and her husband “normally use link or food stamps as income for groceries,” she said. “We've normally managed for the month. Now that the government has been on this shutdown, we're struggling with the little to no food in our home since we didn't receive our daily food stamps for the month.” American citizens have been left unable to feed or shelter themselves, just because the president will not give up his crusade for an expensive, ultimately meaningless wall on the southern border.

This shutdown is not just about funding for the wall. It’s about the federal workers who are paid for doing their jobs. It's about low-income families getting their tax refunds and food stamps so they can feed their children. No matter the motivation for the shutdown, Americans are suffering. President Trump and the Democrats need to reopen the government now, and the President can secure his border funding in a way that doesn’t affect the country’s citizens. The shutdown must be dealt with as soon as possible, as the citizens of America should always be of first priority.