Donald Trump’s border wall government shutdown has now surpassed the four-week mark.
Never before in our nation’s history have we seen a shutdown so long–or so crippling.
25 days and counting are having devastating consequences on the American economy and American lives.
Garbage is piling up in and around America’s national parks.
ATV riders off-road in those parks illegally.
Restrooms there are going unattended.
Human waste is piling up along the road in Yosemite.
Rocky Mountain National Park remains inaccessible because of unplowed snow.
Campers are cutting down protected trees in California’s Joshua Tree National Park.
Some parks’ tourists have died.
More consequences mount every day.
For example, Department of Interior employee Mallory Lorge told NBC News she has to ration insulin she requires to treat Type-1 diabetes after the shutdown caused her to miss a paycheck.
Travel safety will be further eroded as approximately 10,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controllers deemed essential are expected to continue working without pay.
According to Eddie Delisle, regional Vice President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), if the shutdown continues much longer, “there won’t be any controllers left.”
According to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released Tuesday, nearly four in 10 adults state the partial shutdown either personally affects them or they know someone it does.
Even though Donald Trump, as President of the United States, is guilty of intransigence, refusing to concede any funding that does not include five billion dollars of taxpayer money for a wall along the southern US border with Mexico, it is actually Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) who deserves a great deal of the blame for the malingering shutdown, as he is the one with the power to bring to the Senate floor bills that will break the impasse.
The House of Representative and the Senate adjourned last weekend after voting on five bills to reopen the government, yet McConnell refused to present any of them.
This includes an Interior Dept. appropriations bill that includes funding for the Indian Health Services.
As a result, some of the nation’s Indigenous communities are losing their only healthcare option.
In solidarity with the 800,000 Americans who currently have no idea when they are going to see their next paychecks, myriad federal lawmakers have foregone their own.
They are:
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut
- Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii
- Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota
- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia
- Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada
- Sen. Martha McSally, R-Arizona
- Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada
- Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minnesota
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts
- Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa
- Rep. Don Bacon, R- Nebraska
- Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona
- Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Indiana
- Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Florida
- Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tennessee
- Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-California
- Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Georgia
- Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming
- Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minnesota
- Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-New York
- Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-New York
- Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Pennsylvania
- Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pennsylvania
- Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Montana
- Rep. Mark Green, R-Tennessee
- Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Oklahoma
- Rep. French Hill, R-Arkansas
- Rep. George Holding, R-North Carolina
- Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tennessee
- Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina
- Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio
- Rep. John Joyce, R-Pennsylvania
- Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tennessee
- Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota
- Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nevada
- Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio
- Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Virginia
- Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-New York
- Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina
- Rep. Paul Mitchell, R-Michigan
- Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Massachusetts
- Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Arizona
- Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas
- Rep. Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire
- Rep. Greg Pence, R-Indiana
- Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-Virginia
- Rep. Max Rose, D-New York
- Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland
- Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Illinois
- Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-New Jersey
- Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pennsylvania
- Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D- Virginia
- Rep. Ross Spano, R-Florida
- Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-New York
- Rep. Van Taylor, R-Texas
- Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, D-New Mexico
- Rep. Mark Walker, R-North Carolina
- Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan
- Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Florida
- Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Virginia
- Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Kentucky
- Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-New York
Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence, the president’s cabinet, and senior administration officials are receiving $10,000 raises.
Image credit: Public Domain Files
