How The Shutdown Is Harming America Now

[DonViejo]

Matthew Chapman

January 5, 2019 4:22 am

We are now two weeks into President Donald Trump’s petulant gambit to shut down the federal government until Congress gives him his border wall. He has even threatened to keep the government closed for months or years. And while not everyone is immediately feeling the effects, for many it is profound: some 800,000 federal workers have either been furloughed or are being made to work without pay. All of this has serious consequences.

Here are just some of the consequences of the ongoing shutdown:

1. Families in public housing are facing risks to their health and safety.

If you live in public housing funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, you might be having a lot of trouble getting in touch with anyone for help. That’s because, according to NBC News, HUD workers have largely been furloughed as the agency’s funding has dried up:

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1. K&R

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2. Attention Deplorables:

4. You might have problems getting your tax refund.

A Washington Post report suggests that the Internal Revenue Service, which has furloughed about 90 percent of its workforce, will not issue tax refunds during the shutdown, as it drags into tax season:

From late January through March 2 of 2018, the IRS paid out $147.6 billion in tax refunds to 48.5 million households. That money could be frozen within the IRS if the refunds are stalled.
Early last year, as part of its contingency planning for possible government shutdowns, the IRS said it would not issue any tax refunds during a shutdown. Treasury and IRS officials have not said they will completely suspend all tax refunds next month, but a senior administration official said such disbursements would be severely affected and likely slowed if they are paid.

This confusion will come on top of the fact that many people don’t know whether they are getting a refund at all this year due to the GOP’s 2017 tax bill, which threw withholding rates into confusion around the country.

5. Food stamps are at risk.

The same Washington Post report also said that, if the shutdown drags into February, the Department of Agriculture might not have enough funds to fully administer the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP):

Congress has not allocated funding for SNAP beyond January, and the program’s emergency reserves would not cover even two-thirds of February’s payments, according to past disbursements. Last September, the most recent month for which data is available, SNAP disbursed $4.7 billion in benefits to recipients across every U.S. state.
Lawmakers last year appropriated $3 billion into a “contingency” fund for SNAP. USDA officials would not comment on the status of the $3 billion, but if all of that money is still available, it would cover 64 percent of February’s obligations.

If food stamp payments are halted, even if recipients are reimbursed later, that could have profound and dangerous consequences. Millions of low-income families could receive reduced money for food, or none at all.

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3. Add to that Food Safety Inspectors

Like TSA, they’re considered “essential personnel,” and are working without pay. Like TSA employees, the food safety inspectors are going to eventually hit a breaking point too, if they haven’t already.