I lost significant amounts of faith in the federal government last week. The fact that our leaders cannot decide upon how much to cut from a budget mere hours before a deadline shows how ineffective our government is at managing the country.

According to the Congressional Research Service, a government shutdown would mean the closure of the entire National Park Service System, the halting of all visa and passport applications and the curtailing of multiple Veterans Affairs services.
These losses are only the tip of the iceberg if a shutdown were to occur. The National Institute of Health disease hotline would not be monitored, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would cease all disease surveillance operations. Any toxic waste clean-up/investigations would be paused. The hiring of law enforcement officers would stop. Delinquent child-support cases would halt. All active members of the military would receive no pay.

Shutdowns not only are dangerous to public safety, but also put the economy on the line, as shown in the 1995-1996 government shutdowns. A month-long shutdown led to the loss of around 4 billion dollars in federal contracts. The shutdown also led to the loss of millions of dollars from tourism, for example when tourists were unable to acquire the necessary visas and other forms needed to come to America. None of this is wanted for our economy, particularly after considering the state it is currently in.

Both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill seem to find nothing wrong with using the threat of a shutdown as a bargaining chip. The livelihoods of people are not bargaining chips. People must come before politics. The mere threat of forcing a shutdown shows how our government does not know its role. Attempting to shave money off the budget is not worth risking an epidemic disease, parts of our still fragile economy, or a toxic spill.

As NPR’s Andrea Seabrook observed, “Both sides are so terrified right now about what the public will think of them if the government does shut down that really it’s all about trying to make the other guy look bad if that happens.” Therefore, when John Boehner and Harry Reid refer to the last minute agreement that barely avoided a shutdown as “historic”, the only “historic” I can see is in the fact that both parties were able to lock themselves in a room and come out with an eleventh hour agreement with everyone unscathed.

Another issue with our government highlighted by the recent crisis is the ability of the government to glorify little to no change. 38.5 billion was cut from the budget. This was roughly one percent of the estimated 3.82 trillion dollars in the budget. Also, the projected shortfall from the budget is around 1.65 trillion dollars. Cutting 38.5 billion will still increase the total American public debt.

Finally, the entire shutdown revolved around a family planning provision to the budget. This family planning amendment was designed to stop Planned Parenthood from receiving federal money to provide preventive healthcare services such as cancer screenings. The argument was that Planned Parenthood also uses private funds to provide abortions, something a significant albeit minority section of our population opposes.

We are shown how certain sectors of our Congress find opposing private abortions more important than supporting publicly funded cancer screenings. Their morals are telling them that they must oppose all groups that do anything in private that they do not approve of. On certain issues, it becomes extreme to the point of my way or no way. This is only harming the public, depriving people of an important service.

The threat of a government shutdown is therefore completely useless and will only make both sides look silly. They look like they are kindergarteners attempting to gain the upper hand and a feeling of superiority over their enemies. A government shutdown will only show us that our government puts politics before people. You can wait to cut funding from Planned Parenthood. You cannot wait to clean up a toxic spill or monitor a possible epidemic disease.

It is time for our government to clean up its act. We send people to Washington to make decisions for us, to come up with creative and effective solutions to our crises, and to keep our nation running smoothly. Currently, they are doing just the opposite. Acting like children throwing a tantrum to get what they want is not their job.  The government is tasked to serve the people. They need to get on with it.