Chapter Two – The Southern Border Wall Shutdown
22nd December 2018 – January, 25th 2019
The partial government shutdown dubbed The Southern Border Wall Shutdown that started Saturday, December 22 stretched into the third weeks of January 25th, 2019. That means it became the longest ever. This is the since Congress adopted new budgeting procedures in 1976, according to the Congressional Research Service, and it's also the third this year alone.
The histories of government Shutdowns normally show a pattern usually resolved in just a few days, or dragging on for two or three weeks. The shutdowns start when the president and Congress cannot agree on government funding — and the longer they last, the more they hurt the economy. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed, some essential services are ceased and major tourist attractions close. The Standard & Poor's (S & P’s) estimated last year that shutdowns cost the United States $6.5 billion a week. Another major last major shutdown which occurred in 2013, cost the nation $24 billion — a rate of nearly $1.5 billion a day, according to S&P. Since the latest shutdown lasted for 35 days ending on January 25th, 2019 it has become the longest on record.
The immediate effect of all partial or complete shutdowns of the past affects some 800,000 federal employees have either been furloughed or continue to work without pay. They are the innocent victims of the political conflict, but they are the ones paying the price — in the form of growing anxieties and fears that come with no paychecks. Millions of other Americans are affected by the lack of services from the closure of nine departments and several government agencies their tax dollars help support. The purpose of government is not to harm its citizens but to protect them.
President Trump announced Friday January 25th that he'll back a move to reopen the government for a few weeks. He's slated to make a statement on this development at the White House Friday afternoon, amid a tumultuous day with the federal government shutdown affecting staffing at airports. President Trump is expected to back a continuing resolution (CR) -- which would fund the government at current levels -- and reopen the government for a few weeks. The border security debate will continue while the resolution is in place, but the move is designed to take the stress off the system and assure that federal workers get paid.
Meanwhile, the government shutdown has reached its 35th day, the longest in American history. Around 800,000 federal workers missed their second paycheck this week, with roughly half of them working without pay. Several workers in critical agencies have been calling in sick due to financial difficulties.
Flights in and out New York City's LaGuardia airport was delayed on Friday morning due to staffing shortages among air traffic controllers, according to a notice issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. Elsewhere, a flight was canceled due to a lack of sufficient TSA staff at the Monroe Louisiana airport Friday morning. Sanders said in a statement that Mr. Trump had been briefed on the delays and that the White House is "in regular contact with officials at the Department of Transportation and the FAA."
Congressional leaders and President Trump reached a tentative deal to temporarily reopen the government and continue talks on Trump’s demand for border wall money, Capitol Hill officials said Friday. With Trump’s approval, the pact would reopen shuttered government departments for the three weeks while leaving the issue of $5.7 billion for the United States-Mexico border wall to further talks.
The White House announced that Trump would speak from the Rose Garden of the White House at 1:30 p.m. The officials said the tentative deal was subject to change until announced by Trump. The developments came as Senate leaders scrambled Friday in search of a short-term deal to end the partial government shutdown as major delays at airports around the country produced a heightened sense of urgency. As the shutdown stretched into its 35th day Friday, about 800,000 government workers missed another paycheck. The impetus to reach a solution has clearly increased among lawmakers of both parties in recent days, as the mushrooming effects of the shutdown have become more apparent.
That included reports Friday of significant delays at key airports in the northeast because of absences of unpaid air traffic controllers that could multiply across the country at other airports. Federal officials temporarily restricted flights into and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, while travelers were grounded for extended periods in other cities, including Newark and Philadelphia.
The shutdown was also creating a strain on the Internal Revenue Service. At least 14,000 unpaid workers in the IRS division that includes tax processing and call centers did not show up for work this week despite orders to do so, according to two House aides. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said that the airport delays in particular “ratchets up pressure tremendously” to reopen government, saying the developments could prove “very damaging to the American economy.”
Talks between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) began Thursday following the chamber’s failure to pass either of two competing bills to end the impasse.
The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said earlier Friday that, the House Democrats were holding off on plans to unveil a border-security proposal expected to match or exceed the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded for a southern border wall — but one that focuses on other initiatives and does not direct funding for the wall Trump is seeking.
First, we found that the shutdown led to an immediate decline in average household spending of almost 10 percent. Surprisingly, despite the fact that most federal workers have stable jobs and income sources, they were quick to cut spending on pretty much everything, from restaurants to clothing to electronics, just days after their pay was delayed. While households with less money in the bank cut their spending by larger amounts, even those with significant resources and easy access to credit reduced their expenditures.
Second, households with a member who was furloughed and required to stay home from work slashed their spending more dramatically – by 15 percent to 20 percent, or almost twice as much as the average of those affected. This larger decline reflected the fact that these households suddenly had a lot more time on their hands. Rather than going out to eat or paying for child care for example, they were able to spend more time cooking and watching their own children.
This behavior is what tends to spread the economic effects of a shutdown that affects a slice of the population to a wider group of businesses and individuals behind Washington, D.C. And in regions with substantial numbers of federal workers, these declines in spending can greatly hurt the health of the local economy in the short run.
Whether or not a shutdown has a longer-term economic impact depends on whether employees are paid their foregone wages after its conclusion – and how long the shutdown lasts. In 2013, the government
