Friday, 29 Mar 2024

The Government Shutdown: Here’s Where Things Stand

The partial government shutdown is more than three weeks old, and the nation’s economy, airports and citizens are straining under the pressure. Here’s a guide to some of our latest reporting.

Day 25

Members of the Coast Guard missed their paychecks on Tuesday, the 25th day of the shutdown. If it lasts through Friday, Federal District Courts will run out of money. Civil cases would potentially face postponement or suspension, though criminal cases would proceed.

The politics

On Monday, President Trump said he had rejected a proposal by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina to pause the shutdown for three weeks, in what had been an attempt to breathe new life into talks with Democrats.

So far, Republican lawmakers and conservative media have stood by Mr. Trump as support for his border wall appears to have hardened among Republican voters, but the question remains: How long will they continue to back the president? (Broadly, the wall is unpopular.)

The economy

The approximately 800,000 unpaid government workers are not the only ones affected by the shutdown: Legions of contractors have found themselves suddenly out of work and, unlike the federal employees working without pay, contractors have no expectation of recovering missed wages.

For American farmers, the shutdown has compounded concerns about President Trump’s trade war with China. To ease their pain, Mr. Trump created a $12 billion bailout fund, but that is frozen and payouts are delayed because of the shutdown.

The shutdown has an effect on smaller industries, too: Craft beer brewers can’t get approval for new equipment or for labels on new lines of beer until their regulators return to work.

President Trump

President Trump has repeatedly complained of being stuck in the White House as he waits for Democrats to cave to his demand for $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall, but allies say he has actually been stuck in an uneasy limbo.

Privately, many Republicans concede that President Trump has boxed himself in over the shutdown, making strategic errors and allowing dysfunction to continue.

On Monday, Mr. Trump hosted the champions of college football, the Clemson Tigers, at the White House, offering fast food in place of a meal from the White House kitchen — a consequence of the shutdown, according to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mr. Trump’s press secretary.

The broader impact

The shutdown has taken a widespread, but uneven toll, devastating some Americans while going virtually unseen by others.

In Washington, the negative effects have spread throughout the region, dragging down the strong local economy and leaving parts of the city virtually empty.

The shutdown has cascading effects, too. Young people across the country have been affected in various ways. And in Manhattan, prisoners at a federal jail went on a hunger strike on Monday after family visits were canceled because of staffing shortages.

Niraj Chokshi is a general assignment reporter based in New York. Before joining The Times in 2016, he covered state governments for The Washington Post. He has also worked at The Atlantic, National Journal and The Recorder, in San Francisco. @nirajc

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts