Cheryl Kelley is a former Senior Government Official with experience across five Cabinet Agencies, including serving as Director of Planning, Management and Budget. She is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University and the Author of An Informed Citizenry: How the Modern Federal Government Operates.
WNYLaborToday.com recently met Kelley via Facebook and found her to be extremely insightful on what is going on in Washington, D.C. She just penned this Op-Ed that was published in The Hill, and its information that you really need to read to understand what a government shutdown is – and isn’t:
Congress is threatening another “government shutdown” as the September 30th deadline approaches.
But here’s what most Americans don’t understand: Government has never shut down.
Not once.
What people call “shutdowns” affect only the most visible, least essential services. The actual machinery of government continues operating normally during shutdowns.
Somewhere, at 3 a.m. this morning, USDA Food Safety Inspectors walked into meat processing plants across America. They will examine 37 billion pounds of meat this year – not because politicians told them to do it this week, but because that’s what the permanent government does every year.
In windowless rooms at the National Weather Service, Meteorologists are today analyzing atmospheric data that will determine whether your flight gets delayed tomorrow.
At USDA’s Global Intelligence Centers, analysts are tracking crop conditions in 95 countries that could affect American food prices months from now. Nuclear engineers are monitoring reactor cooling systems that can’t take a day off.
This will all continue going on, regardless of budget negotiations in Congress. This is the government that Americans rarely see but depend on absolutely – and it reveals why the term “government shutdown” is fundamentally misleading. What actually stops during shutdowns are the visible, public-facing services that make citizens feel the political pain.
This includes tourist visits to National Parks and the Smithsonian and processing of some permits and applications.
