By Dru Barcelo
A failure of both parties’ ability to compromise: that is why the US government suffered multiple “temporary” shutdowns in the beginning of the 2018.
With neither party able to obtain what they desire—a clean and concise budget plan, a deal on DACA, border wall funding, or whatever it may be—the only thing these government shutdowns prove is the dysfunction and discord in Washington today.
Democrats continue to push a solution for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, insisting that it be addressed, and even willing to go as far as to compromise by allowing for some border wall funding to come forth.
Instead, President Trump and the rest of the GOP continue to ask for more, leading to such shutdowns.
The shutdown, however, doesn’t mean every federally funded agency, program, and service will grind to a halt. Whoever works for agencies and departments that are considered nonessential, including agencies that payout small business loans, and process passport requests, will cease to work until Congress is able to agree on a bill for the federal budget.
Earlier in February, Congress ended an hours-long shutdown by passing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which raises spending caps $300 billion higher than current levels for the next two years. However, lawmakers still have to pass an appropriations measure before midnight on the night of March 23.
Lawmakers have yet to pass a comprehensive budget for fiscal 2018, even though the current fiscal year is nearly halfway over. In the past 44 years, Congress only approved an on-schedule federal budget four times. In the same timeframe, the federal government shutdown 20 times.
The correlation is obvious, and if bipartisanship doesn’t come forth, the government, and every citizen of the United States is going to face the repercussions.
