*Lies – Page 22 – * Failed Pols

The safety impact of the partial government shutdown, which began on December 22, 2018, continues to grow. Even though the shutdown only affects 25 percent of government functions and services, few Americans will be spared at least some of its ramifications. One of the (many) widespread ripples of the partial government shutdown is its safety impact.

For Americans not among the 800,000 federal employees who are either furloughed or who continue to work without being paid, life may go on as usual – for now. But among those who are not currently collecting a paycheck for their federal jobs are those who do the work of keeping us safe.

Thousands of Secret Service agents are required to continue working without pay. Among their responsibilities are protecting the president and vice president and their families, as well as protecting former U.S. presidents. Visiting foreign heads of state also require the protection of U.S. Secret Service agents.

According to many in the Secret Service, agents are angry and full of anxiety about the shutdown.

“They are asking you to put your life on the line and not paying you — it’s ridiculous. Morale is a serious issue,” said 20-year Secret Service agent Donald Mihalek, who has served during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. “This is an incredibly stressful job that requires your full attention, and if you are standing there thinking about your mortgage, or your credit card bills, or the fact that you are burning through your savings, you are distracted, you’re not able to give 100 percent.”

The Secret Service protects 42 people in the Trump administration alone. According to The New York Times, Randolph Alles, the current director of the U.S. Secret Service agency, said in 2017 that “the sprawling Trump entourage was putting unprecedented strains on his agents, in terms of staffing and budgeting.” The shutdown only adds strain to an already over-burdened agency.

Though protection by the U.S. Secret Service may not directly impact most Americans, the safety impact of the partial government shutdown is evident in other ways. Corrections officers at federal prisons are also currently working without a paycheck, as are many agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and many members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

At U.S. airports, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are also required to come to work, though they’re not getting paid. Many have called in sick, and/or are looking for other work. The resulting understaffing, as well as lowered morale, is causing delay at major airports, as well as posing clear national security risks.

As of January 15, the partial government shutdown – now the longest in U.S. history – will be at day 25. While federal law enforcement and safety employees do their best to either continue working without compensation or navigate a furlough, bank accounts are draining, morale is plummeting, federal employees’ families are paying the price, and – what impacts us all – the safety impact of the partial government shutdown continues to become more of a threat.

Flight attendants say government shutdown threatening airline safety |
Global News [2019-01-10]

Federal workers’ paychecks on hold as partial government shutdown looms | Fox News [2019-01-10]

On Friday, December 14, a federal judge in Texas ruled the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” unconstitutional. But it’s not quite that cut and dried. The “unconstitutionality” of the ACA lies not in the entire piece of legislation, but in the individual mandate portion. Nevertheless, because of the way the ACA is written, declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional deems the entire ACA unconstitutional, according to District Judge Reed O’Connor, of Texas.

Congress’ 2017 tax reform bill included a change to the ACA’s individual mandate. Originally, the individual mandate required that every American purchase health insurance (if not covered by an employer’s policy) or face a tax penalty. The 2017 tax reform bill, however, eliminated the tax penalty.

Judge O’Connor ruled that when a tax penalty was attached to the individual mandate, Congress was exercising its Constitutional taxing power. Without the tax mandate, however, O’Connor ruled that Congress was overreaching its authority.

“Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause—meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional,” said O’Connor in his opinion, adding that the individual mandate is “essential to and inseverable from the remainder of the ACA.”

Judge O’Connor’s ruling goes further than the Trump administration originally asked. Invalidation of the individual mandate and the provision that protects those with pre-existing conditions were the only provisions the Trump administration had sought to overturn.

Tim Jost, a professor at Washington and Lee University, said that (in addition to the individual mandate and the pre-existing condition provision), “O’Connor’s order would invalidate many provisions of the Medicaid program, the Medicare program and other federal laws.”

Jost added, however, “Judge O’Connor has declared the individual mandate unconstitutional and the rest of the Affordable Care Act invalid, but he has not blocked its continued operation.”

“Today’s ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the ACA’s consumer protections for healthcare, on America’s faithful progress toward affordable healthcare for all Americans,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “…The ACA has already survived more than 70 unsuccessful repeal attempts and withstood scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”

California and 16 additional blue states argue that the individual mandate is still constitutional, but that even without it, the ACA could stand. The Texas federal judge’s decision on the ACA will without question be appealed.

Texas Judge Rules Obamacare Unconstitutional | KPIX CBS SF Bay Area [2018-12-04]

Federal judge strikes down Obamacare | Fox News [2018-12-14]

Category: *Lies

The Safety Impact of the Partial Government Shutdown

Texas Judge Rules ACA Unconstitutional