Photo by sborisov/iStock
With the government shutdown in its third week, many Americans are beginning to feel its painful and often unforeseen impacts. The federal shutdown threatens the paychecks of thousands of government employees -- and the health of millions of Americans. With regulatory agencies only partially staffed, fundamental safeguards to our water, air, and land are falling through, leaving communities vulnerable to harmful toxins and preventable disasters.
In North Carolina, water samples that may contain dangerous levels of GenX are sitting in a fridge, untested. The EPA lab that is supposed to test the samples is closed due to the shutdown, leaving North Carolinians at risk of drinking contaminated water. The company Chemours committed violations back in 2017 when it discharged the unregulated chemical GenX into a North Carolina river. It has since stopped dumping the chemical, but without testing, it’s unclear whether the water is safe for drinking again.
In Alaska, the shutdown is stalling preparations for wildfire season. Although few worry about fires breaking out in the middle of winter, vital work takes place in the winter months, like training firefighters and conducting upkeep that makes fires less inevitable in the spring and summer. The pause in this work caused by the shutdown, combined with the severity of recent wildfires given rising global temperatures and drought, could make for a nasty situation when wildfire season rolls around.
Many EPA employees are feeling the shutdown personally, as the absence of an income makes it difficult to pay bills. EPA employee Sarah Waterston spoke to CBS News about how furloughs affect her, saying, “It's my job, it's my livelihood. It's how I put food on the table for my children.” Hundreds of thousands of other federal employees are facing similar struggles. Unpaid federal workers will owe an estimated $438 million in rent and mortgage payments this month. In a survey conducted by the National Treasury Employees Union shortly after the shutdown began, 78 percent of federal employees reported feeling “very concerned” about how the shutdown would affect their ability to pay bills.
Americans don’t deserve to be put in harm's way over Trump’s border wall boondoggle. Sarah Waterston and hundreds of thousands of other government employees deserve a paycheck, North Carolinians deserve clean water, Alaska’s forests deserve protection, and America deserves a working government. Trump and Senate Republicans need to agree to a clean funding package and reopen the government immediately. The shutdown is an injustice to Americans and their environment. Take action and tell your senators to reject Trump’s border wall and pass a clean funding bill to reopen the government.