4 Things Christians Should Know about the Government Shutdown

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The federal government shut down Wednesday for the first time in seven years after U.S. lawmakers failed to break a budget stalemate, setting off furloughs for thousands of workers and leaving essential services strained but still operating.

Although the House passed a measure that would have kept the government running, the Senate failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance it, rejecting the proposal 55-45 and leaving the resolution stalled.

The vote breakdown in both chambers largely fell along party lines, with Republicans supporting the bill and Democrats opposing it. 

Here are four things Christians should know about the shutdown:

The Entire Government Isn’t Shut Down, But …

The federal government is not completely shut down, but whether an office or service is open depends largely on what you need. 

National parks remain accessible but with little to no staffing and limited maintenance, according to Politico, which reported that 64 percent of National Park Service staff will be furloughed – meaning they will not be paid until the shutdown ends. 

The shutdown could impact air travel. The Transportation Department says a funding lapse would sideline over 11,000 FAA employees – roughly one-fourth of the agency – although air traffic controllers would be told to continue working without pay as part of a furlough plan, Reuters said. 

Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and student loan services are still operating, but 40 percent of the Department of Health and Human Services will be furloughed.

The United States Postal Service continues its operations as normal, although members of the military will work without pay.

Democrats Are Blaming Republicans

Democrats are pointing to three core issues as driving the budget standoff that triggered the shutdown. 

They argue that Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) subsidies set to expire at the end of the year must be preserved to prevent health insurance premiums from increasing. Secondly, Democrats want Medicaid cuts signed into law earlier this year to be reversed, warning they would strip coverage from countless Americans. A third sticking point is funding already approved by Congress, with Democrats arguing that the Trump White House is not dispersing money authorized by the House and Senate to federal agencies.

“After months of making life harder and more expensive, Donald Trump and Republicans have now shut down the federal government because they do not want to protect the healthcare of the American people,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.).

Republicans Are Blaming Democrats

House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) criticized Democrats for opposing what they called a “clean, nonpartisan” bill that would have continued federal funding and avoided a shutdown. 

Thune charged that “far-left interest groups and far-left Democrat members wanted a showdown with the president.”

“And so Senate Democrats have sacrificed the American people to Democrats’ partisan interests,” Thune said. 

The shutdown, Thune said, could end immediately.

“Republicans have offered up a clean, nonpartisan funding extension – the same kind of extension Democrats have repeatedly supported in the past – and Democrats are blocking it for their own partisan purposes.”

Johnson said Democrats shut down the government “because we won’t agree to restore healthcare to illegal aliens, because we won’t agree to give a half a billion dollars back to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

It Could Last Longer than Normal

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history took place during President Trump’s first term, lasting 35 days – from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019.

This shutdown, though, could stretch on even longer. Both sides have dug in over disputes tied to health care funding and social policy, leaving little room for compromise. The White House has signaled it is willing to wait out Democrats rather than strike a quick deal, while lawmakers in the House and Senate face few immediate political incentives to back down.

Trump, in fact, has argued a “lot of good” could come from a shutdown.

“We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want and they’d be Democrat things,” Trump said Tuesday. “They just don’t learn. So we have no choice. I have to do that for the country.”

Democrats, he said, are “taking a risk by having a shutdown.”

“We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible,” he said.  “Like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like.”

Related video: How Should We Respond to the Government Shutdown? [Editor's note: This video was originally posted in 2013, but the sentiments remain relevant for Christians today.]

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/izanbar

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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