BY: Julianne Malveaux
For millions of Americans, the federal government isn’t an abstraction. It’s a paycheck, a housing voucher, a student loan payment, a disaster relief check. When the government shuts down, those lives shut down too. Yet here we are again — watching a small band of ideologues in Congress hold the nation hostage, threatening to turn off the lights on the very institution they’re sworn to serve.
Government shutdowns have become almost routine — not the rare constitutional crisis they were meant to be. Each one grows longer, costlier, and crueler. They are the political equivalent of self-inflicted wounds, a kind of performative dysfunction masquerading as fiscal responsibility. We’ve seen this play before: in 1995 under Newt Gingrich, in 2013 when Republicans sought to defund the Affordable Care Act, and in 2019 when a fight over the border wall cost the economy billions. Each time, workers suffered, businesses stalled, and trust eroded. Each time, the perpetrators claimed principle — but the outcome was pain.
Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator whose work explores race, gender and economic justice. She is the former president of Bennett College and the author of several books, including “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama, and Public Policy.”
