Letters: Considering the cost of the shutdown; Compromise is the answer in Washington

Cost of the shutdown

In his deceiving article, “Shutdown projected to cause $3B permanent hit to economy,” Associated Press reporter Andrew Taylor cherry-picks data from Monday’s Congressional Budget Office report in an apparent attempt to downplay the damage from the longest government shutdown in history (The Capital, Jan. 29).

The CBO estimates that the shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion. While $8 billion may eventually be recovered through faster economic growth, the CBO states that the negative effects are “much more significant on individual businesses and workers” and that some “will never recoup that lost income.”

Adding these losses to the additional $2 billion in decreased tax revenues in fiscal year 2019 amounts to a total loss of $5 billion. $5 billion could probably pay for most of a border wall.

Or, according to the National Priorities Project, it could provide Medicaid for 1.4 million people, increase federal spending on energy efficiency and renewable energy by more than twofold, expand federal aid to public schools by 30 percent, double funding for substance use and mental health, fund the National Endowment for the Arts through 2051, double heating assistance for low-income households, resettle 11 times more refugees than we did in 2018, or increase funding for the Environmental Protection Agency by 60 percent.

Considering these lost opportunities, the economic losses caused by the government shutdown are not nearly as insignificant as Mr. Taylor would like us to believe.

SHELBY BELL

Millersville

Compromise is the answer

Anne Parker stated that “President Donald Trump shut the government to point out the abject failure of the Democratic Party to govern in any meaningful way” (The Capital, Jan. 26).

If memory serves me correctly, the Republican Party had complete control of the government from Jan. 20, 2017 until November when the Democrats regained control of the House. It seems to me that the Republicans could have passed any legislation they wanted and could also have given Trump money for his Wall which by the way Mexico is supposed to be paying for.

I have listened ad nauseam to folks playing the blame game because Trump threw a temper tantrum and decided to use government workers as pawns. He and he alone stated on Dec. 11 that he would be willing to shut the government down and “take the mantle” for said shut down if he didn’t get money for his Wall.

You will also note that Trump was ready to sign the bill that was sent to him until de facto members of his “cabinet” — Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, et.al. — took exception, called him out and ridiculed him in public.

There are definitely ways to work with each other but not until our elected officials understand that compromise is not a dirty word and that the president of our nation is there to serve all of her citizens not the just 33 to 35 percent who agree with him.

That, Ms. Parker, is what a dictator does.

As for your statement regarding Fox News, we all have our biases and those who get their information from outlets other than Fox have a right to their opinions (not facts) as well. While I don’t find the “mainstream media” any more disconnected from reality than Fox News, you are entitled to your opinion just not your own facts.

FELICIA A. WALKER

Annapolis