Americans survived one government shutdown and brace for another

Beth Johnson has grown accustomed to the uncertainty that comes with being a military spouse, moving her family every three years.

However, the crippling anxiety that comes with a US government shutdown is not something she is used to.

She’s one of millions of Americans who breathed a sigh of relief when politicians in Washington agreed to reopen the government earlier this week.

After 43 days, it was the longest shutdown in US history.

But this relief may be short-lived, as the funding agreement expires at the end of January, when Congress will face the same spending challenge again.

“It really impacts every part of your life when your family’s only source of income comes from the federal government,” Johnson said. “Uncertainty is crippling.”

The mother of two from Tennessee has lived in seven states since her husband joined the Army nearly 20 years ago.

Packing and moving her family every three years means it’s difficult for her — and the spouses of other service members — to get work, so the Johnsons live on one paycheck.

Not knowing whether military service members would receive pay from the closed government left her family with difficult decisions.

About 1.3 million active-duty personnel are required to serve during government shutdowns potentially without pay, but the Trump administration intervened twice during the fall shutdown to reallocate funds to those military personnel.

But without certainty, many families were forced to tighten their belts. One of Johnson’s sons even offered to get him fewer Christmas presents, telling his mother: “It’s okay, we don’t need them.”

Johnson is frustrated by what she described as the unnecessary sacrifice of millions of Americans.

“Why was all this happening? Why were we suffering for more than 40 days of uncertainty, not knowing what was going to happen,” she wondered. “What’s the point? We’ll probably go through this again in January.”

The agreement reached by Congress this week funds the government for the next two months, ensures that all federal employees get paid for time during the shutdown, and funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) — which provides food assistance to one in eight Americans — through next September.

Sierra Bird is one of more than 42 million Americans who depend on Snap money to feed her family.

This Florida mother of four gets about $900 a month, but that money was delayed because she was stuck in a spending bill.

Ms Bird said she had “survived” the lockdown and her Snap card would be reloaded over the weekend.

She’ll get back to somewhat feeling normal, but she’s also weary of the prospect of another lockdown on the horizon, and said she’ll start stocking up on food, just in case.

“People will take what they need if they don’t have what they need,” Byrd said. “Don’t mess with people’s food.”

Although Snap benefits have resumed, one thing that has not returned is health insurance subsidies. It was these benefits that Democrats said they were willing to fight for, and that helped fuel the shutdown in the first place.

Democrats said they would not approve the budget unless the support continued. But on Tuesday, eight Democrats sided with Republicans to approve the spending plan without them.

“I traded one stress for another,” Ms. Bird said. “I would rather have affordable health care than Snap, because I can feed them rice and beans and survive, but I need my medicine.”

In addition to those struggling to put food on the table during the shutdown, more than 1.4 million federal employees have been without pay for 43 days.

Sarah, an employee of the Utah Department of the Interior who requested that her last name not be used, was among them.

She had been furloughed since the start of the lockdown on October 1, and as the days and weeks passed, she worried she would have to find another way to earn money.

“I was trying to decide if I wanted to abandon the federal sector completely to find another career,” Sarah said.

As an archaeologist, she works in a uniquely specialized role, making it difficult to transfer her expertise to another job or industry.

Her fears were dispelled on Thursday when she returned to work for the first time in weeks, after the government reopened, but she is already preparing for the possibility of another one next January.

“With the holidays coming up, I’m not going to spend a lot of money,” she said, noting that she will postpone some remodeling projects as well.

“I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if there’s another lockdown.”

With less than 80 days until the next potential government shutdown, Ms. Johnson, the Army spouse, said she would be preparing, just in case.

“We’re making a big effort to keep an eye on non-essential spending and save money where we can so we have a bigger nest egg because if the government shuts down again in January, there’s no guarantee that active-duty military personnel will get their paychecks.”