By Jessica Jones Capparell
Yesterday marked the 37th day of the government shutdown, making it the longest in U.S. history. This means that many government functions are still on pause, with devastating consequences for millions of Americans.
Our communities are hurting, and Congress has the power to end the shutdown.
You can contact your congressional representative here.
More than one million federal employees’ paychecks are being withheld, including that of 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers and 13,000 air traffic controllers. This has resulted in massive staffing shortages and thousands of flight delays and cancellations, which will worsen as the holiday approaches. For most Americans, missing paychecks threatens people’s ability to meet their and their families’ basic needs.
The shutdown has also caused uncertainty and fear for the 42 million people with low incomes who rely each month on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to afford food. The Administration’s announcement that the government will fund only half of the November SNAP benefits is devastating for tens of millions of families who will have to rely on food banks or potentially go hungry. SNAP recipients receive an average of $187.20 per month, which already only accounts for a fraction of most people’s food expenses. Further, food banks across the country are already struggling to keep up with increased demand and simply cannot make up for the government’s shortfall.
In the backdrop of this shutdown, 44 million people are shopping for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance plans and discovering exponentially higher premiums than last year. If Congress does not extend the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, an estimated 4.8 million people will become uninsured in 2026, and millions of others will face much higher expenses.
While Congress continues to get paid, its weaponization of a prolonged shutdown for political leverage is hurting the American people it is entrusted to serve. This is unacceptable.
As we take steps in our own communities to support our neighbors during this time, we must also continue to press Congress to end the shutdown. Please take one minute to tell your members to put aside partisan politics and restore the funding and services to which Americans are entitled.
Tell Congress to put aside partisanship.
Jessica Jones Capparell is Director of Government Affairs, League of Women Voters