[ad_1]
Joe Heim
Journalist covering a wide range of subjects, including race, white nationalism, schools, student culture, Native American issues
Steve Hendrix
Local Portfolioless Editor Enterprise but Filer for National, Foreign, Magazine and Other Sections
Bernardine and Russell Yamamoto arrived in Washington from home in Hawaii – their first ever trip to the nation's capital – to find the closure of the federal government. But as the couple was waiting to visit the US Capitol on Saturday, the closure was the least of their worries.
"Washington seems to be in chaos," said 62-year-old Russell Yamamoto. "What's going on? What's going on? Many people are resigning," she said. "That does not reassure you."
The first day of the closure, while hundreds of thousands of federal employees were working without pay, Congress had abandoned negotiations and left the city, and President Trump had threatened "a long stay," the closure of the government – the third this year – was barely visible among the many other storms that are shaking the country.
Last week, President Trump upset foreign policy by announcing the brutal withdrawal of the United States. the troops of Syria. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned in protest, alarming many members of the presidential party. The US Federal Reserve has confirmed its fears about the slowdown in the US economy. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped nearly 7%.
These chaotic events rocked global markets and raised fears that the next crisis will lead the country into recession – with no certainty that the Trump administration and the legislators in conflict are up to the task.
"Closure is a symptom of the fact that our government simply does not work to develop policies in an orderly and reasonable manner," said Alice Rivlin, director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. under Bill Clinton when the government closed in December 1995. "This adds to the uncertainty.
Diane Swonk, chief economist of the accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton, called the closure "a closure, a straw on the back of the camel – and the straws accumulate". he was already worried about a recession striking late 2019 or early 2020, "and such a thing could make it happen sooner."
Americans worry more about their finances than ever before at Trump's presidency, according to a November poll by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. With a 39% approval rate, according to a recent CNN poll, economists and policy analysts will closely monitor the speed with which Trump can resolve his differences with the rising Democrats.
Funding for dozens of federal agencies and commissions expired at midnight. Friday after lawmakers failed to agree on a government funding plan. After announcing that he would sign a bipartite budget bill, Trump changed his mind and demanded that every bill include an additional $ 5 billion for the construction of a wall on the southern border . This proposal was rejected by the Democrats.
The stalemate persisted on Saturday and Senate officials said they would only return to work after Christmas, which means the closure will last at least five days. Meanwhile, an estimated 400,000 federal employees have gone to work unpaid, said Ashley De Smeth, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union in the country. 39, federal employees.
work for free, "De Smeth said, although she noted that Congress had traditionally voted in favor of federal workers compensation after a closure.
In the streets of the nation's capital, the signs of closure were for the most part invisible. Carousel music spread through the mall as tourists and crowded residents braved a powerful wind that scattered the leaves and slapped the 50 American flags surrounding the Washington Monument.
Almost all the museums were open and business was going on as usual on the food trucks that line 14th Street NW. T-shirt vendors hawked their Make America Great Again hats and Barack Obama t-shirts. Officials at the Smithsonian Institution said museums have enough money to stay open for at least a week after closure.
The story was different in many of the country's national parks, resulting in the closure of their doors. At the Fort Sumter National Monument in South Carolina, where Confederate forces unleashed the Civil War by firing on a Union garrison in 1861, the Visitor Center was closed. On the park's website, above the usual picture of an American flag flying to the fort, stood a red banner warning: "Government Closure".
Other services were not affected, including the US Postal Service, food safety inspections, law enforcement and airport security, said the White House during a press briefing. But if the closure were to last beyond next week, the impact could be felt much more widely. This could in turn undermine markets and reduce the value of retirement accounts and other funds.
Jon Meacham, presidential historian and author of "The Soul of America: The Battle of Our Best Angels," said the closure comes at a defining moment in America, while an anxious public yearned to calm Washington and begin to solve its problems.
"In a sense, American history can be understood as an eternal battle between fear, which manifests politics and a culture of exclusion and defense, and hope, which are manifested by inclusion and a bigger heart, "said Meacham, who has delivered one of the praises of former president George HW. Bush at the beginning of this month.
"We are now plunged into a frightening period, a time when we are talking about barriers and tariffs rather than the free flow of ideas, people and goods. But here's the good news – or at least the good news: History tells us that hope tends to win in the long run. There is the Klan, but then there is Dr. [Martin Luther] King. There is Joe McCarthy, but then [President Eisenhower].
"Right now, there is Trump. But if people work hard enough, there will soon be a restoration of dignity and forward thinking. That's the task.
On Saturday, as politicians quarreled, the country's political cleavage was evident among tourists wandering in the mall. Lyda Peters, 75, had traveled with her daughter from Boston to spend a few days visiting the National Museum of Afro-American History and Culture. Managed by the Smithsonian Institution, it was open – to their relief.
But Peters expressed his disappointment "with regard to this president."
"It's a great country that has made so much progress, but it's taking it back home," she says. "All I can think of is the current state of our country," he said. # 39; is how scary it is. "
On the other side of the mall, the White House reception center, managed by the National Parks Service, was closed. It was good for Gretchen Booth, who had headed to the Capitol after seeing the national Christmas tree.
Booth, a cancer registrar in an Ohio hospital, supports Trump's fight for the While the tourists were unnecessarily pushing the doors of the visitors' center before noticing the "Closed Zone" signs, Booth said he was indifferent to the prospect of an extended closure.
" That's what the founders had in mind, "she said Democracy" is not supposed to be pretty. "
Damian Pa letta and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
