No dull moment in Washington

Diplomats in Washington, D.C. are all watching developments unfold following the partial US government shutdown that began last Dec. 22 and is now on its second week as of this writing, with Washington virtually on hold.

Even the White House was not as busy as it usually is. I accompanied DFA Secretary Teddy Locsin for a meeting with National Security Adviser Ambassador John Bolton at the White House the other day, with less people moving around than usual. A government shutdown happens when the House of Representatives and the Senate fail to meet the deadline to finish the appropriations process to pass legislation that would designate funding for each government agency and program, or when the president refuses to sign the said appropriations legislation.

In the past, there have been several instances of full or partial government shutdowns, with the current one already the 21st time since 1976. During the administration of Barack Obama, a shutdown occurred for 17 days in 2013 due to disagreement between Democrats and Republicans on a healthcare act known as “Obamacare.” 

The longest shutdown, however, happened during the time of Bill Clinton as president, starting in November 1995 and extending until January 1996 for a total of 27 days. This happened because President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich – a Republican – locked horns over the 1996 Federal budget, specifically on education, the environment, public health and Medicare.

Admittedly, the current shutdown – which stemmed over funding for President Trump’s campaign pledge to build a wall along the US-Mexico border – has affected at least nine US agencies, namely the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce, Agriculture, Interior, Treasury and Transportation. 

The lack of funding has also resulted in the temporary lay-off of some 800,000 federal workers, among them over 41,000 federal law enforcement officers from the FBI; the Drug Enforcement Agency; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; some 53,000 Transportation Security Administration employees, and about 42,000 from the Coast Guard. 

Thousands of non-federal employees have also been furloughed, including those who work in national parks, with Smithsonian museums (such as the Natural History Museum), the National Zoo and even research centers also closed. On social media, a couple said they refused to put their wedding plan on hold because they could not obtain a marriage license – so they went ahead with their wedding, except of course that the ceremony was not legal. 

Aside from Washington, D.C., among the states that have been widely impacted include New Mexico, Maryland, Hawaii, Alaska and Virginia according to a report from WalletHub, a Washington, D.C.-based personal finance website that compared 50 states and the District of Columbia based on publicly available data from official sources, and identified five metrics that include each state’s share of federal jobs, to federal contract dollars per capita, and the share of families receiving food stamps as basis for its analysis. 

However, one of the developments that is creating uncertainty especially among US allies is the resignation of James Mattis as Secretary of Defense, with observers saying his departure could impact US foreign policy. Although there is an acting Defense Secretary in the person of Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, the big question now for many is who will eventually replace Mattis.

Personally, it is unfortunate that Secretary Mattis resigned. He has become a friend of the Philippines and is well respected in Washington. Needless to say, if not for the former US Defense chief, the efforts to return the Balangiga bells would probably still be stuck due to the government bureaucracy at the Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. No doubt it was James Mattis who brought the Balangiga bells to the finish line, so to speak, and that’s also partly because he is a great believer in partnerships and alliances as a key factor in keeping America strong as a nation – which he actually said as much in his resignation letter to President Trump. 

“One core belief that I have always held is that our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships. While the US remains the indispensable nation in the free world, we cannot protect our interests or serve that role effectively without maintaining strong alliances and showing respect to those allies,” Mattis wrote.

The Democrats have reclaimed power at the House of Representatives (235 Democrats over 199 Republicans), with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi sworn in as the Speaker of the House, but they will have to hit the ground running, so to speak. The Lower House has approved two bills to reopen the government  – but it remains to be seen whether these will make it through the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. 

In any case, this 116th Congress is definitely the most diverse and historic ever with a record number of women – 102 in all – taking their seats in the House of Representatives. Among the freshmen batch include Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman at 29; the first female Muslim and Native American women representatives; single mothers with young children – which is perhaps the reason why a new childcare facility exclusively for the House of Representatives employees was recently opened. 

My colleagues in the diplomatic corps and I certainly have a lot of work cut out for us this year as we move around the US Capitol to meet the new batch of senators and congressmen, as well as new Cabinet secretaries and other key White House officials. As they say, there is never a dull moment in Washington, D.C. nowadays.

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