DENVER — With each passing hour, the federal government inched closer to shutting down as a result of a stalemate in the US Senate over a funding measure from the US House of Representatives and then it did just after midnight Wednesday.
The measure aims to extend federal funding for seven weeks, giving lawmakers time to finish their annual spending bills.
Republicans claim the continuing resolution (CR) is simply upholding the status quo and maintains the current funding levels. Meanwhile, Democrats are worried about subsidies from the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are set to expire at the end of the year, asserting that the expirations will lead to skyrocketing health care costs.
Seth Masket, a professor of political science at the University of Denver (DU), explained what is happening at the federal level.
"It is soon to run out of money, basically," Masket said. "The federal government is funded through a series of budgets, basically congressional authorization, and they're only authorized to spend money up until midnight [Wednesday]... Democrats are blaming Republicans for pushing unreasonable things in a budget. Republicans are saying Democrats are being irresponsible by not supporting maintaining things as they are. Really, it's the overall institution. It's an inability for them to come to terms on this."
The Scripps News Group asked Masket about the Republican claims that the CR is simply upholding the status quo.
"You could see it that way, but just holding the status quo has some costs for the Democrats," Masket said. "Because the status quo includes things like a current cut in subsidies for Obamacare. Okay? And those subsidies are very important to people who rely on that to maintain their health insurance. This is one of the areas where Democrats are saying that, actually, we can't just do a CR, a continuing resolution, because there's real costs to just continuing with what the status quo is."
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Republican Congressman Gabe Evans, who represents Colorado's 8th Congressional District, believes Senate Democrats are to blame for any potential government shutdown.
"It's not going to be positive for Colorado. This is why we're urging Senate Democrats to vote for what they voted for multiple times before. We need to keep the government open," Evans said. "It's critical that we keep the government open. I know this personally. I was a soldier in the U.S. Army for 12 years. I was deployed in a combat zone back in 2012 and 2013 when we were building up to that looming government shutdown, and as that got closer and closer toward that shutdown, we had trouble getting parts and fuel for our aircraft while we were operating in a combat zone."
Evans said the shutdown will impact anyone who relies on government services, specifically mentioning service members, veterans, and seniors. If the shutdown happens, Evans plans to send a letter asking that his federal paycheck be withheld until the shutdown is over in solidarity with those who may be impacted.
"It truly is damaging for a shutdown to occur, particularly when that shutdown is because Democrats will not go along with the current status quo," Evans said. "Republicans did their job. We passed the bill. We passed the bill that has always, previously, been the standard, common sense, bipartisan solution to keep the government funded."
Meanwhile, Democratic Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, who represents Colorado's 7th Congressional District, is fighting that notion. She spoke with Scripps News from Washington, D.C. Tuesday.
"Right now, Democrats are here ready to work to solve the issue facing our country, which is addressing skyrocketing health care costs that are looming right around the corner, as well as funding critical services for our government to stay open. Unfortunately, the Republicans are not here," Pettersen said. "We don't know exactly what this is going to look like... President Trump has threatened and told agencies to prepare for mass firings. Historically, [with] shutdowns, they've tried to mitigate the impact that people feel. That is not the way that this president runs things, and so he has promised massive pain and suffering."
Pettersen's team sent the Scripps News Group figures outlining the increase in health care costs across her district, showing those prices almost doubling on average.
"They're not going to be able to keep up with these rising costs, and that's why we're fighting so hard to prevent the pain and suffering that Republicans, unfortunately, are unwilling to address," said Pettersen.
The last government shutdown happened at the end of 2018 during President Donald Trump's first term in office and carried over into the next year. Masket said that federal government shutdown had a large impact on Colorado.
"There's actually a large presence of the federal government here in Colorado. There's a huge office for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just west of the city. Most of those offices shut down during that government shutdown, [and] all the people who worked there were sent home. That meant a lot of people that were just sort of out of work, not sure whether they were going to get paid for their time. That also had kind of a rippling effect, where people who sell lunches to those employees and sell coffee to those employees, all of their businesses were really hurting," Masket explained. "The longer a shutdown goes on, the bigger an effect it can have. You also had situations like national parks will probably shut down. That has a big effect on Colorado's tourism industry. A lot of other things could be affected, as well."
Colorado's Joint Budget Committee approved $7.5 million in funding to keep the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) afloat in case of a federal government shutdown.
We reached out to Governor Jared Polis, who provided a statement which said, in part, that his office is asking the federal government to keep national parks "open and staffed, or create avenues for the state to assist in keeping parks open and protected." Polis acknowledged in his statement how much of a tourist attraction Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) is for Colorado, especially during the fall months.
RMNP accounts for 75% of all park-related tourists in Colorado, and the month of October sees 10% of the annual visits.
The statement continued to say that Polis is "evaluating all options" and is a "willing partner if needed, to use limited state funds to keep our biggest park fully operational if necessary.”
- Read the full statement from Polis below:
“A shutdown will hurt hardworking Coloradans, plain and simple. We saw during the last federal shutdown how billions of dollars in economic activity were lost, workers went without paychecks, and businesses never fully recovered their potential income. Now Congress is once again playing games with Coloradans' livelihoods by risking health care, jobs, and economic security. It’s time for the majority in Congress and the Administration to come together, pass a balanced budget like we do every year here in Colorado, and stop punishing hardworking families. As part of negotiations, Republicans should extend EPTC to prevent health care premiums from rapidly increasing and take other actions to support Americans and their families.”
“We’re asking the Federal government to keep national parks open and staffed, or create avenues for the state to assist in keeping parks open and protected. Rocky Mountain National Park is a major draw for visitors from around the world, especially now during leaf-peeping season, and a major economic driver for Colorado’s rural communities and others like it. If Congress does not fund the federal government, I urge the Administration to prioritize the operations of the national parks so that they can continue to be enjoyed. Here in Colorado, we are evaluating all options, and are a willing partner if needed, to use limited State funds to keep our biggest park fully operational if necessary.”
In addition, Masket said the shutdown would impact the paychecks of agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"The most recent accounts I've seen suggest that ICE agents would be going without paychecks during a shutdown, and they'll likely receive back pay once it's over, but for a little while, they won't be pulling a paycheck," Masket said. "They're already under a fair amount of stress and duress, and this could increase that. This could increase their reluctance or resistance to doing their work. Same is true for National Guardsmen who are deployed in different cities. This is, you know, this could be something that certainly would affect their morale, if nothing else."
If federal lawmakers cannot reach an agreement, the government will shut down at 12:01 a.m. EST on Wednesday.
