Government Shutdown Is No Longer a Policy Dispute as Local Families Feel the Pain
Skyrocketing insurance premiums, emergency measures to support SNAP beneficiaries, and missed federal paychecks are hitting local Virginians hard according to area nonprofit leaders.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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The federal shutdown is now in its 28th day. Most citizens to this point have found it more of an annoyance than a significant problem. Air travel is a bit trickier, national parks are closed, and wait times for calls to Social Security offices can run into hours.
This week, however, the consequences of the shut-down are beginning to bite people financially in significant ways.
Many government employees have now missed one full paycheck, and part of another paycheck. And while there are employees, particularly in the Defense Department, who have not lost pay, they may soon also see their paychecks stop.
The anxiety around this loss has been amplified because President Trump is threatening that, unlike in previous shutdowns, the government may not repay workers for lost wages.
In Fredericksburg, government people are turning to places like Loisann’s Hope House for assistance.
“We are getting a lot of calls for rental assistance,” said Cait Woodward, Hope House’s executive director. In particular, she continued, “we’re seeing an increase in requests from government workers for [help with] utilities or rent.”
Though recent numbers are not available, Woodward had seen the trend coming. In the first quarter of this year, Hope House handled 100 prevention referrals — calls from people facing missed rent payments or evictions — seeking financial assistance.
Woodward said the rate of calls in increasing, and that the “majority of people of are looking for rent.”
Going Beyond Government Workers
At the heart of the shutdown is a chicken-and-egg debate between Republicans and Democrats over healthcare costs. The tax credits that keep premiums low for people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are expiring.
Senate Republicans want Senate Democrats to pass the Continuing Resolution that the House passed to keep the government open and then negotiate ACA subsidies.
Democrats want the subsidies negotiated first, and then they will pass the Continuing Resolution.
Up until now, the debate has been mostly academic. With the enrollment period for ACA health insurance now open, however, the reality of not having those subsidies is hitting.
On Tuesday, Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner issued a press release that spells out the increased costs that consumers can expect. For some people, premiums are up as much as 185%.
“The numbers don’t lie,” said the two senators in a joint press release. “Preliminary cost estimates are showing what we’ve been warning about for months: huge spikes in premium costs for Virginians enrolled in health care through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.”
For individuals or families between 100% and 138% for the federal poverty line, that means their premiums will jump $35 a month, to $76. Roughly 52,000 Virginians fall into this category with an average household income of just under $25,000.
In a press release last week, Kaine and Warner noted other potential impacts of elevated insurance rates:
94,000 Virginians unenrolled in health insurance through the ACA marketplace.
50,000 Virginians uninsured.
$295 million lost in federal funding.
$434 million lost in state Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
3,400 jobs lost.
$31 million lost in state and local tax revenue.
Their data comes from an analysis done by the Commonwealth Fund, which works on issues of access to healthcare and improved healthcare results for under-represented populations.
“If Congress takes no action to extend [the extended premium tax credits], nearly 5 million people are estimated to become uninsured in 2026, and insurance premium costs will soar for millions more,” according to the report.
SNAP Gets a Reprieve, but Food Insecurity a Growing Concern
At the same time as jumps in healthcare costs are landing, numerous states are warning people who receive assistance through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) that funds may not be available on November 1.
Local governments in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and Stafford began notifying local recipients two weeks ago that November funds would not be available should the government shutdown continue and advised them to take steps to prepare.
Today, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that Virginia would deliver the benefits to SNAP beneficiaries the federal government won’t by creating a parallel system, the Virginia Emergency Nutrition Assistance (VENA). The system will deliver those funds via the same SNAP cards people currently use.
Unlike SNAP funds, however, which are delivered monthly, VENA funds will be delivered weekly.
Funds to pay for VENA are coming from the state surplus and will cost about $37 million a week. The first payments will go out on Monday, November 3.
Youngkin is also distributing an incremental $1 million into the food bank network. Those funds are being provided to shore up food banks in anticipation that families will need assistance over the weekend prior to November 3.
“We are pleased the governor has initiated an action that will be positive for hundreds of thousands of Virginians,” wrote Fredericksburg Area Food Bank CEO Dan Maher in a text message to the Advance, “including tens of thousands in our region, during a period of federal inaction.”
However, Maher, continued, while “this state support is helpful” it is not “sustainable, so it is still critical that our community generously rally around those who lean on communal charitable food assistance and that our community members also raise their voices in advocacy to our federal leaders to put an end to the widespread pain the shutdown is causing.”
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As I've aged, I've lost some of my ability to hear high pitched or lower amplitude sounds. A bad thing for enjoying the background chorus of "Southern Man" in Sweet Home Alabama that I know is there. A benefit when babysitting 3-4 year old grandsons who take genuine pleasure in yells of exuberance as they play.
There have similar degrades in vision, endurance, strength, heart and lung function, and balance. I'm sure I'm missing some things - oh, yeah cognitive ability and memory. C'est la vie. That which we are, we are....
So it's because of recognizing these limitation in myself, I'm truly beginning to wonder if a similar core inability is at the root of Mr. Davis's continual efforts to minimize what is going on regarding politics and the effects Republican's actions have had on our nation.
This shutdown is not a mere "policy dispute". But rather a last gasp of political activism from the purported national representatives of over half of the country to show that they can and do have a say in our government.
This was never just about the money. It was never just about the healthcare. It's about the very soul of this nation. Who we are, what we will be.
In the last 10 months, we've seen legal protections not just of a generation, but of 100 year old length (posse comitatus) stripped away by Republican fiat without recourse. Cities arbitrarily occupied by the military or federalized guard units from other states for political purposes. Secret police making arrests and detentions without due process. Not only of undocumented aliens - but also those who we promised sanctuary, made agreements to in return for information, former wartime allies, and even US citizens. And even infants.
Our tax policy changes daily depending not upon law, debate, negotiation, treaty, need, or budget - nor thru the votes of Congress - which has the power of the purse for the Constitutional purpose of providing a needed restraint on a President's power - but rather due to the thin skinned and erratic whims of the felon we currently have chosen to sit in that honored position.
It can change based upon whether an Emir gives his family money or gifts, if another totalitarian in Argentina looks in danger of losing an election which will result in financial losses that will hurt the investments of his Treasury Secretary's hedge fund buds, to provide welfare for political supporters in Iowa (because it turns out a country boy can survive quite well if his millionaire and billionaire farms get government welfare - interestingly - including that same Treasury Secretary), or if someone in another country posts a commercial that hurts his feelings.
This is not how a representative democratic republic runs its affairs. Particularly not this one. Yet here we are.
And again, I'm merely scratching the surface of the legion of changes have been enacted. Private citizens funding the military? Demands of loyalty to the party and not rule of law or the Constitution? Healthcare dictated by non-medically certified former drug addicts based on specious claims? Gutting of regulations, inspector generals, brazen indifference to laws?
Things as grand as state ordered executions without trial on the higher seas, acts of war, or defunding Congressionally ordered monies? Allies abandoned, threatened with invasion, or to be stolen from? Looking away from genocide? Pardoning allies who commit crimes? Then giving them public monies for their pain and suffering?
Nuts and bolts items like basing disaster aid on political affiliation rather than need. What colleges are allowed to teach or say. And to whom. What they are allowed to study. What skin colors, gender, or religion matters, and which do not.
Or as petty as what plays at the Kennedy Center this weekend, who gets to host a World Cup match, or what an exhibit in a museum can say.
And with all of these things - this one small act of defiance is the only tool Democrats as a national party or their allies have left. This is it. They have been thwarted by the Supreme Court - which has left its own lower courts in limbo, a President who has abandoned his oath, ignored by Republicans in Congress who obey without question or debate, and suffer under a Cabinet deliberately manned by sycophants or buffoons whose meetings look like press conferences that would put Stalin or Kim to shame for their lack of spine or reality.
This shutdown is it. I find it interesting that the AFGE is the first to cave. What a bunch of sunshine patriots. The one group gutted the most, with the most to lose - and they give up even though they will be the ones most likely to be made whole when this passes - if it passes. Or will be non-existent if it doesn't.
Just as public protest, boycott, and voting are the most powerful outlets for everyday citizens, and Democrats at the state level are finally fighting fire with fire in redistricting - however much they wish they didn't have to - this shutdown has been the first meaningful act that the national Democratic party has been able to accomplish in almost a year to stop this onslaught of destruction that Republicans have invoked against our Constitution, laws, allies, treaties, and way of life as they look to remake us to their utopian dream of theocracy, totalitarianism, and oligarchy.
I hate that these actions are causing any financial burden to anyone. But like our forefathers when they went on strike for better lives - before we can have any hope of saving the things that matter to us, we must gain the respect and understanding from Republicans that there are checks on their power. They are not gods. They are not kings. We do not accept tyrants.
They need to respect our power, as the majority of the country. As shown by their actions over the last 40 years, and more so in the last 10 years, and even more so in the 10 months - they won't unless we make them.
We won't make them unless we stand together, and stand firm.
Hold firm.
This far and no further.