Here we go, possibly barreling toward another federal government shutdown, as an Oct. 1 deadline looms. How did we get here?
Funding the government used to be one of the most basic jobs of Congress. But these days, something so simple as keeping the lights on can't be taken for granted.
Congress is scrambling to avoid a shutdown, and the weird part of this process is that just about everyone wants to fund the government. Democrats and Republicans both recognize how toxic it would be to shut down the government right before the November elections.
So far the only one who continually calls for a shutdown is . . . President Trump.
The Los Angeles Times reports the president wants $5 billion for a border wall, which Democrats will, of course, fight. And if it leads to a shutdown, Trump says he doesn't mind. He calls a potential shutdown a "great political issue."
But we have a better solution when it comes to a shutdown. Let's not and say we didn't. The shutdown in 2013 under President Obama cost Americans $2.5 billion, Politico reported. The government has already shut down once under President Trump, and nobody outside the White House is eager to see it repeated.
A government shutdown really does cost the country money. Politico explains how:
"Furloughed workers almost always get paid retroactively for the time they were out--which means taxpayers are laying out money without getting any work in return. Museums and national parks can't collect fees and revenues from other sources like gift shops. Perhaps most importantly, federal workers spend thousands of cumulative work hours preparing for the event and recovering from it, literally shutting down their systems and then restarting them once the government reopens--paid work that is utterly unnecessary to the normal business of running the country, and sucks time away from safety inspections, or reviewing research grants, or whatever their actual responsibilities are."
It's a bad idea, this one. And all the fighting over Planned Parenthood or border wall funding doesn't magically make it worth it. We urge our own congressional delegation to do their part and make sure our government stays open for business.
When Washington politicians play chicken with our nation's funding, there's no way the American people come out as winners.
Editorial on 09/17/2018