How the looming government shutdown will affect Texans

A Senate study after the 2018-2019 shutdown found that the Department of Homeland Security delayed maintenance of border facilities at the time due to lack of funding, which “endangered the lives of law enforcement officers and created significant border security vulnerabilities.”

In several parts of rural Texas close to the border, Border Patrol often supplement law enforcement. During the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, more than half of the responders were Border Patrol. But those agents could have to work without a paycheck if the government shuts down.

“In rural communities, these federal employees are critical,” Escobar said. “They are the law enforcement personnel that many rural communities depend on. And what the House Republicans are doing is essentially telling those federal employees we need you, but we don’t want to pay you.”

During the 2013 shutdown, Congress passed legislation at the eleventh hour that would secure active duty military pay through the government closure, and lawmakers are making a similar push now. U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, introduced similar legislation this week to protect Border Patrol pay. But with the House barely capable of even passing the procedural rules required to consider appropriations legislation, there’s only a narrow amount of time for even those emergency bills to get through.

The shutdown could also jeopardize payments by the Federal Emergency Management Agency during hurricane season. The agency has already begun delaying payments to ration money, The Washington Post reported, meaning state projects to recover from disasters could be held up.

Texas also has over 4,700 Transportation Security Administration officers and over 1,200 air traffic controllers — all of whom would likely have to work without a paycheck if the shutdown stretches beyond their next pay period. The loss of pay could lead to low morale and agents calling in sick, as occurred during the last shutdown.

“The slowdowns and loss of safety personnel that we experienced during previous shutdowns were unacceptable, and it is essential that hiring, training, and pay for these vital air safety professionals are not interrupted by any lapse in funding,” Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said in a statement.

How it got here

Congress must pass appropriations legislation before the end of each fiscal year to determine which federal programs get how much money. Congress has failed to reach that Sept. 30 deadline every year since 1996, opting instead to pass temporary funding measures called continuing resolutions to buy time to pass year-long funding bills.

But several far-right Republicans are refusing to pass a continuing resolution without major concessions, including the passage of a House Republican bill to harden the border that Democrats revile. They are also demanding a stop to assistance to Ukraine, which Senate Republicans and Democrats largely agree is a critical national security priority.

Republicans “are all willing to shut down the government and throw working people under the bus and damage the economy, just because they think that it’s going to go politically well for them, and that is disgraceful, and it’s wrong and Texans need to know it,” U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, said.

The far-right and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struck a deal earlier this month to pass a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded for 30 days into the new fiscal year, buying time to pass the full appropriations legislation. The deal would cut non-defense discretionary spending by 8%, eliminate Ukraine aid and tack on the House Republican border security bill.

Texas Republicans in particular have demanded border security be a part of any funding deal — even though a shutdown could weaken defenses on the southern border. The House Republican border security bill was born out of a border plan designed by conservatives in the Texas delegation to increase penalties for cartels, build a border wall and keep asylum seekers in Mexico.

Democrats and several Republicans immediately decried the continuing resolution deal as a nonstarter. It is far below the spending limit negotiated by the White House and McCarthy to raise the debt limit last spring and would drastically cut spending for programs ranging from education to health care. The Senate reached a bipartisan deal Tuesday for its own continuing resolution, essentially in direct opposition to the House Republican proposal.

“The decision for @POTUS @JoeBiden – will he shut down the border or shut down the government?” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, posted on social media. Roy was among the far-right Republicans who negotiated the continuing resolution.

But yet another rebellion within the House Republican conference shuttered the continuing resolution path, with a cohort of ultraconservative members, including U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, refusing to pass any kind of bandaid and instead focusing on the individual appropriations bills — even if it leads to a shutdown. Gaetz has threatened to use a procedural move to launch a vote to remove McCarthy as speaker if he doesn’t do as he wishes.

McCarthy now has to choose between continuing to concede to his hard right flank, only for any bills to face instant death in the Democratic Senate, or reach out to Democrats to bail him out and keep the government running.

McCarthy has “essentially handed all his power over to the most extreme Republicans who are sending us to a shutdown,” Casar said.