(AFP) – A school trip of excitable 10- and 11-year-olds was greeted by closure signs Wednesday as their tour of the US Congress was canceled after a government shutdown took effect. Many federal departments and agencies have been shut since midnight, and thousands of public sector workers furloughed, after lawmakers failed to agree on a funding deal to keep government lights on.
But Cami Hamlin, principal of the Georgia school some 700 miles from Washington, saw some irony for her students amid the inconvenience. “It’s unfortunate as we’ve been teaching the kids they’ve got to manage their own budget,” said Hamlin, who wore a Springdale Elementary School T-shirt. She stood with dozens of other tourists in front of the Congress building where a deadlock between President Donald Trump’s Republicans and opposing Democrats triggered Wednesday’s shutdown.
The closure will be particularly acute in the US capital, where the federal government is the largest employer and runs sites popular with sightseers from around the globe. Some of the most symbolic — including the Washington Monument — were closed to visitors Wednesday due to staff shortages. Others such as the Smithsonian Institution, which runs museums and the National Zoo, will stay open until Monday using prior-year funds.
Martine Ruaud, visiting from Bordeaux, France with her husband Jean-Luc, said she hoped the government would open back up before their three-day trip ended. “There is so much to see and it’s annoying if tourists can’t come because there’s no staff, because we would really like to visit,” said the 62-year-old, who missed out on a Congress visit. “It would be a shame if the country closed itself off,” Ruaud added.
Outside the US Capitol, visitors speaking various languages studied signs that said its visitor center was closed “due to a lapse in appropriations.” Shutdowns are not uncommon in politically divided Washington, but this is the first since a record 35-day stalemate in 2019, during Trump’s first term. This one comes as the president seeks to push a hard-right agenda that Democrats have opposed, focusing in the collapsed spending talks on expiring healthcare subsidies that they want put back into the federal budget.
Terese Johnston, who was visiting from California with her son, said she was disappointed lawmakers had failed to prevent a shutdown — even if she backed the Democrats fighting Trump. “I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people,” the retired tour guide, 61, said. “This should have been resolved a long time ago, and we should never come to this position.”
– Ben Turner
© 2024 AFP
