Here at Northwestern, the daily drone of construction kicked off a day like any other. The government shutdown, which began at midnight Tuesday, has affected little on our Evanston campus. For many Americans, however, today marked the first day in what could be a long wait. The failure of Congress to agree on a continuing resolution (CR) led to the shutdown of all government services not deemed “essential” and the unpaid furlough of almost 800,000 government employees. The disagreement in Congress largely stemmed from the refusal of a Republican-controlled House to send a clean CR to the Senate. A majority of Republicans in the house proposed only continuing resolutions with provisions to cut funding to the Affordable Care Act (popularly called Obamacare), proposals that were unacceptable to most of the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Ironically, the health care exchanges created by the ACA went into effect as planned on Tuesday, allowing U.S. citizens or legal residents who need health insurance to enroll. The marketplace will match people to the appropriate healthcare provider, be that public or private.
The government has been shutdown 17 times in the past, and each shutdown tends to have its own reasons and reactions. It is largely now up to Congress to broker a deal for the government to be able to function at a normal capacity once again. The current shutdown is predicted to last anywhere from a few days to an entire week. The economy is expected to take hits from furloughed federal employees, lost tourism and lost business confidence. Every single federally funded tourist attraction will be shut down. If the shutdown persists for too long, more far reaching consequences on the national and international markets will have to be considered.
Northwestern students will see little impact on their current lives, seeing that NU is a private institution. Students receiving financial aid and/or using federal student loans will be unaffected. Some payments, however, may be slow due to understaffing at the Department of Education. Essential services such as the United States Postal Service will remain operational. Other essential services include some areas covered by the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. Some odd victims of the shutdown include the Panda Cam at the National Zoo and the USDA website. The USDA itself, however, remains open.
The shutdown even managed to ruin two birthdays today. The eternally underappreciated NASA turns 55 today while at the same time shutting down everything except for its more crucial services. NASA will also be forced to close many of its services. Both the Voyager 2 and Asteroid Watch Twitter feeds have been shut down. If during these few days, there is the need for an intergalactic highway, we will be unable to see our coming doom or even have time to prepare. Yosemite National Park's big number 123 also received the same lack of appreciation from the government today, as the National Park Service and its web page have too been rendered largely inoperable. Google had to pick up the slack instead. Finally, if you happen to be the rare Northwestern student on the run from the persecution of the IRS, they will be unable to pursue your case in the upcoming days.
Despite the limited effect visible here in our small patch of Evanston, however, there are far-reaching implications created by this shutdown, especially in this political climate. In a Congress that is on track to be the most unproductive ever in terms of legislation creation, the use of the shutdown as a political maneuver will only exacerbate the toxicity of the current American legislature. Bargaining with the pay of federal employees is not negotiation, and this game of political poker is not productive.