For the past decade, Americans have watched a wasteful Washington drama unfold each year: government shutdowns that threaten our economy, jeopardize our security and hurt families all across our country.Each time there is a shutdown, the American people are caught in the middle.Make no mistake, government shutdowns are not a theoretical or a procedural exercise, they have real consequences all across the country.
The last shutdown cost our country more than $11 billion.In recent shutdowns, we've seen long lines, up to six hours, just to get through airport security because TSA went unfunded.Air traffic controllers — the people who keep the skies safe for us to fly — went without pay.
Veterans and seniors had a harder time accessing the benefits they’ve earned because those services ground to a halt.The Small Business Administration was hamstrung in its ability to support entrepreneurs trying to keep their small businesses afloat.Families were faced with the prospect of having their SNAP benefits dry up as they tried to feed their children.
Government shutdowns in the past have even threatened our ability to pay service members who help keep our country free.Government shutdowns show the world, America's friends and foes, that the world's greatest democracy and largest economy can be held hostage by politics.SENATE PLOTS PERMANENT END TO GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS WITH BIPARTISAN PUSHTravelers wait in long security lines at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, on March 27, 2026, amid a government shutdown and deployment of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents to ease congestion.
(Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP)For some of the loudest voices in our politics, government shutdowns may sometimes look like an appealing way to later score political points in a cable news hit, on social media, or on the campaign trail, but let's be clear: The American people always pay a very real price.Americans have had enough of this destructive, chaotic style of ...