OPINION: Stop this shutdown.

ABOVE: From Clker-Free-Vector-Images on Pixabay (license)

A letter to the editor by Laura Beverage of Medford, NJ

While the unnecessary and ill conceived partial government shutdown is an incredible hardship for the some 800,000 impacted federal government employees who face multiple not-of-their-making financial impacts, the trickle down effects to the country as a whole appear to be lost on this administration.

Some of the most dangerous are the lack of funding for the TSA and prison workers. Disgruntled TSA screeners are calling out sick in high enough numbers that many of their unpaid co-workers are working double shifts. This is neither good for the worker nor the many travelers who are unsettled about just how diligent these overworked, and currently unpaid, employees are going to continue to be in doing their jobs. The furloughing of Air Traffic Controllers, Federal Aviation Safety Inspectors…the unpaid status of all of these deemed “non essential” Federal employees, leaves all of us in extremely unsafe, and potentially fatally precarious, circumstances.

President Trump said in response to a reporter’s question that he “can definitely relate” to a $30,000 to $35,000 per year paid worker’s circumstances. The reality is, of course, that he has absolutely no desire nor ability to fathom how the loss of such an income impacts that one family, nor the lengths to which they may have to go to ensure their family does not suffer at the hands of an imperious, and uncaring President and administration.

Editor’s note: The opinions in this letter are the author’s only.

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