Government Shutdown: Former Local Leaders Debate the Blame
Tracy Lehr
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) When the United States Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill before the September 30 deadline, the impasse triggered a federal government shutdown that began at midnight in Washington, D.C.
Before the shutdown, former State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and former Santa Barbara City Council Member Dale Francisco shared their perspectives.
Jackson is a Democrat. Francisco is a Republican.
“You know, the President of the United States at one point defined the closure of government as the fault of the president before he was the president. It is the responsibility of our leader to make sure that we can come together. But he has abdicated that responsibility. He doesn’t want that to happen. He wants to see the government shut down,” said Jackson.
Jackson added that while Republicans hold all the branches of government, Democrats are focusing on health care.
“They want concessions on health care that are going to impact the lives of millions of Americans. They want to end the cuts to Medicaid that are about to occur in January,” Jackson said.
She argued that those in power are not willing to negotiate.
“At the end of the day, this falls upon the Republicans. It falls upon the Republican Congress, and it falls on the President of the United States,” Jackson said.
The immediate impacts are already being felt. About 750,000 federal employees are facing furloughs or working without pay. The Federal Aviation Administration expects more than 11,000 of its workers to be sidelined, raising concerns about airline delays and training backlogs.
National Parks and public lands are closing visitor centers and cutting services. Social Security and Medicare checks are still going out, but support staff and customer service are limited. Past shutdowns have also shown the economic cost can add up quickly. The 2018–19 shutdown carried an estimated 11 billion dollar hit to the U.S. economy, with some losses never recovered.
Francisco sees the negotiations another way.
“I think the Democrats would really be making a mistake to do it, both politically and rationally. But they might feel driven to it because their base wants them to stand up to Trump,” Francisco said.
He pointed to possible cuts.“Bureaucracies that Trump would be happy to get rid of will lay people off,” said Francisco.
He argued Democrats are in a difficult spot.“What we do know is that the Democrats are not faced with any good choices in this. The whole idea that the leadership is resisting and saying we will drive it to a shutdown if we need to, that is not a good choice for them. It is a lose-lose situation, actually,” Francisco said.
Francisco added that local impacts are likely to be minor.“The big effect is going to be in Washington, D.C., and Trump has said he is fine with an opportunity to lay off more federal workers,” Francisco said.
Jackson, however, expressed concern about the ripple effects.“Trump has threatened to fire federal workers, so who knows what is going to happen with these different agencies. It is an opportunity for him to create more and more chaos,” said Jackson.
Both agreed that National Parks would be impacted immediately, but essential services would continue.
U.S. Senators said they plan to return to a vote first thing Wednesday morning, and that vote could change the outcome.