it’s pretty bad.
workers:
according to CBS, a projected 420,000 federal employees (post office, prison guards, police officers, etc.) will be going without pay. this was from december 22, and it wasn’t an exaggeration. the washington post says 800,000 employees - people are literally just not getting paychecks.
specifically: politico says that 400,000 are being furloughed - mandatory time off without pay - and another 400,000 were deemed “essential” and have to work without pay.
“Essential employees who continue to work during a shutdown are guaranteed pay for that period, but those checks are not paid out until after the shutdown has ended. Furloughed employees are not necessarily paid for the shutdown period, and any paychecks for them must be appropriated by Congress.” - politico, january 8
none of these employees are being paid right now.
“Trump is the only president to furlough employees while his party controlled both chambers of Congress.” - business insider, january 8
“Real-life consequences of the shutdown are already beginning to seep in. In one example Friday, union leaders said hundreds of Transportation Safety Administration workers at major airports nationwide are off the job because they can’t afford to get to work, although a TSA spokesman said the absences aren’t enough to affect airport security operations. Millions of Americans also face delayed tax refunds and cuts to food stamps if the standoff drags into February.” - washington post, january 4
time:
this began as a partial shutdown - because trump asked for 5.7 billion dollars to go towards building the mexico - U.S. border wall, and congress denied his request. he’s considering declaring a national state of emergency, and mike pence is urging representatives to vote against opening the government back up until they get the funding.
this is the second-longest shutdown, according to the new york times, coming only after a 21-day shutdown that occured in december of 1995.
national parks:
three people died in national parks in the week after the shutdown began. this isn’t out of the norm - a spokesman said that an average of 6 people die a week, but i figured i may as well include it.
“Still, roughly half a dozen rangers are available to patrol Yosemite National Park, for example, which is about the size of Rhode Island.” - washington post, january 5
“The government shutdown has left America’s national parks largely unsupervised. No one is at the gate. No one is collecting a fee. The visitor centers are closed… People are streaming into the parks, enjoying the free access, but they’re finding trash cans overflowing and restrooms locked. Vault toilets are not serviced, and there’s hardly a flush toilet to be found anywhere.” - washington post, january 1
raises:
on january 4th, the washungton post reported that “scores of senior Trump political appointees” were scheduled to recieve pay raises of around 10,000 dollars.
“The raises, for hundreds of appointees, including ambassadors, appear to be a consequence of the shutdown: When lawmakers failed to pass bills Dec. 21 to fund multiple federal agencies, an existing pay freeze lapsed. It was enacted by Congress in 2013 for top executives and was renewed each year since then. The raises will occur because that freeze will expire Saturday without legislative action, allowing the increases that accumulated over those years to kick in.” - washington post, january 4
a day after, federal agencies were told to freeze the raise.
not great.