The longest government shutdown in national history lasted 43 days and came to an end on Nov. 12, lasting 43 days. Federal employees worked without pay, and Americans across the nation lost access to important government-funded resources. The school club TP Political Union covered the government shutdown since it began, and Club President Henri Tanghe (12), shared his opinions about the government shutdown.
What does TP Political Union do during its club meetings?
“We cover political developments, both in the US and abroad, in a nonpartisan way.”
How has the club covered the government shutdown so far?
“All of our meetings have covered it, and we just go over what the state of the union is at the moment. The shutdown has been pretty big, so we have spent almost every single meeting going over the current state of negotiations, what are the effects and how are we feeling about them.”
How do you think our current government is dealing with the shutdown?
“I think they handled it pretty poorly. Speaker Johnson canceled votes in the House, so the House was pretty much shut down for seven weeks. [Also], representative-elect Adelita Grijavala, who won a special election right before they closed down the house, couldn’t get sworn in for six weeks. I think the shutdown just highlighted how partisan we are as a country. I think just the house not even being in session just showed that there weren’t negotiations happening. It took eight defective democrats to give in to end the shutdown because there were no serious negotiations. So, I think it highlights that as a country, we weren’t doing a good job of working well together, and that we can have issues like funding, but we have to be able to negotiate through them and reach a deal and not play hardball and not negotiate.”
How has the government shutdown affected different branches of government?
“It affects everyone because there is no funding. [Government-funded groups] are going [working] off of emergency funds and could be seen in the Department of Transportation and the FAA, where all of these air traffic controllers weren’t getting paid, so they were showing up, working crazy long shifts without being paid. So it is really strenuous… on all the different branches of government. Congress gets paid during the government shutdown, so that’s a big thing to remember. Other workers aren’t getting paid, but members of Congress still get their paychecks. Some of them decided to forego getting paid, but a decent number of them still got paid.”
How did the government shutdown affect Americans?
“Toward the end of the shutdown, where all these SNAP benefits weren’t getting renewed, it, frankly, was a little scary. For a lot of people who rely on SNAP to get food, not knowing if you were going to be able to have money to buy food for yourself, for your family, that’s pretty daunting. I think that the shutdown was not beneficial in the fact that it caused a lot of families to have those conversations, like, “How can we get food on the table?” I think the shutdown just highlighted, like, how fragile a lot of Americans’ finances are, and how when we don’t have these government programs, a lot of people suffer.”
How did the government shutdown affect students at Torrey Pines?
“People whose parents work in the federal government were not having an easy time, given the fact that they didn’t know when their next paycheck was coming in, and luckily, it ended before Thanksgiving. But, if it were still shut down, flights for Thanksgiving would have been canceled.”
What are some ways your club has helped students affected by the government shutdown?
“Most people don’t know what it means for them that the government shut down. I think that’s how our club has really made a difference, by just speaking about it. I think it is the most important thing to raise awareness.”
