Mayday! Mayday! This Ship Is Going Down!
Trying to survive on a deficit budget.
When the government says they’re going to shut down because they’re out of money, do they?
Well, yes and no.
The last time it happened was in 2018–2019, during the Trump administration, and was the most protracted shutdown in government history. For 35 days, hundreds of thousands of government workers were either laid off or forced to work without knowing if they’d be paid.
What caused the ruckus? A dispute over expanding barriers on the U.S.-Mexican border—in other words, “the wall.” It was only going to cost $5 billion.
Whatever happened to Mexico paying for the wall?
The shutdown ended up costing the U.S. government about $5 billion. I don’t know who targeted which departments, but the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) was hit hard.
Life goes on, but they sure like to stick it to the little guy first. God forbid they should take a nickel from the defense budget. Or a congressperson misses a paycheck.
