We are in the third week of the government shutdown, and there are zero signs of it ending anytime soon. If someone hasn’t told you yet — I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news — but this is bad. Very bad.
To recap: The government began the shutdown Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass the stopgap funding bill. Democrats wanted extended health care subsidies in the bill, and Republicans did not, and as a result, it failed. Since then, there have been no open or closed-door meetings between the two parties, and the president of the United States just keeps blaming the “radical left.”
This government shutdown is unlike anything we’ve seen before. For starters, President Donald Trump has explicitly said he wants to target only “Democratic agencies” for permanent layoffs amid the shutdown. Under normal circumstances, federal workers are just furloughed and then receive their jobs back once the shutdown is resolved. They are not supposed to be fired — and certainly not for working at a specific agency.
I wish I could say I knew what a “Democratic agency” even means. How do we have Democratic agencies under a Republican president? Well… I just don’t know anymore. I don’t think he knows, quite frankly.
Additionally, Trump claims the furloughed workers may not be guaranteed back pay once this is all over. This is an executive order Trump himself signed in 2019, after the longest shutdown in history — unless this one surpasses it — ended. Not only will this hurt the 750,000 workers laid off, but he is once again contradicting himself.
Trump is also starting to carry out tasks that normally fall under Congress’s authority. He announced he would be paying the military for their Oct. 15 paychecks using “unused research funds” that the military had yet to use. The funds were then moved into the troops’ bank accounts Oct. 15.
Yes, it’s great that our troops are being paid. Traditionally, Congress has the “power of the purse” and handles all budget-related issues, including where funds go. In fact, Republican lawmakers aren’t even sure about the legality of this maneuver, let alone whether there will be another fund Trump can find for the military’s end-of-October paycheck.
Finally, there’s the blame game. On the White House’s official website, there is a clock counting the days of the government shutdown with the headline “Democrats have shut down the government.” Then, in certain airports across the country, travelers walking through TSA are shown a video of the head of the Department of Homeland Security and the queen of plastic surgery, Kristi Noem. In the video, she claims Democrats are at fault for the shutdown and that this is why wait times may be longer, as TSA workers are without pay. NPR reports that the legality of this is questionable, but the likelihood that there are consequences following is slim.
“Scholars of government law and ethics say this political messaging violates a law called the Hatch Act, which restricts executive branch employees from engaging in certain political activities,” NPR reported.
Democrats are not innocent in the blame game either. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has made multiple statements pointing fingers at the administration and Republicans.
“Donald Trump, Speaker [Mike] Johnson and Republicans in Congress are nowhere to be found,” said Schumer, adding that the three GOP leaders “need to sit down with Democrats and have a serious negotiation.”
At the end of the day, all parties involved are at fault. We have 750,000 workers going without pay. We have citizens worrying about whether they will receive their SNAP benefits. We have everyday people who seem more concerned with the government shutdown than the government itself.
Both sides can sit here all day long and point fingers, but neither is trying to negotiate. What we are experiencing is abnormal. We, as Americans, deserve more from our government — and regardless of what the current administration says, we have the right to demand just that.
