While admittedly it’s a bit of leap to claim that the shutdown caused the crash that killed 157 people this weekend. There is reason to believe the aircraft’s safety may have been compromised by the impasse over funding for the boarder wall.
Boeing was going to issue a software update to help address at least some of these issues‚ these updates were delayed for five weeks by the government shutdown, an assuredly unintended consequence of all political maneuvering since December or earlier, but a costly consequence none-the-less.
Add to this all lives impacted by the shutdown and further deaths (at least 7 in national parks) we aren’t able to so easily track it’s past time now that Congress acts to remove budget shutdowns from being a tool for either erratic presidents or intransitive congresses to wield. Shutting down the government costs lives and we now have evidence that the impact can occur months after the shutdown is over.
Congress needs to move toward having an automatic continuing resolution. Automatic CRs would absolve Congress from the responsibility of passing new CRs, preventing both quick financing lapses and big, painful shutdowns. Those coupled with an elimination of the concept of a ‘debt’ ceiling would stop future Presidents or Congresses from using the economy and people’s lives as a bargaining chip.