As midnight fell over Washington, D.C. on Oct. 1, the government officially shut down. The spending bill intended to keep federal programs running encountered a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over whether Affordable Care Act subsidies should be extended, and ultimately failed to pass in time. The next 43 days were plagued with one question: When would the government finally reopen?
The answer came last Wednesday, when eight senate Democrats changed their vote to pass the bill. However, many Americans, including Emerson students, are still feeling the shutdown’s effects in some ways, particularly in regards to their travel plans and internship employment.
Senior communication sciences and disorders major Lillian Holland, from Austin, Texas, had several concerns when it came to flying during the shutdown. Boston Logan International Airport was on the list of the 40 airports that had been told in an emergency order to cut 10% of their flights as a result of Federal Aviation Administration staffing shortages and subsequent safety concerns.
“I had a lot of discussions with my parents about if I should wait and not come home until winter break,” Holland said. “But in the end, I just ended up buying the tickets.”
She said that flying even postshutdown, for her, poses a big risk. She worries about not being able to return to Boston due to a delay or an unexpected cancellation, which would affect her ability to attend classes and cause issues with classes that have strict attendance policies.
Looking back at the shutdown, Holland said she learned how important it was to have a close knit community in hard times. She and those she is close with have made an effort to recognize various needs in their close community that they can help address.
“I know friends who rely on EBT, and they got that removed,” Holland said. “My friends and I have made plans to volunteer at food banks that unfortunately had to pick up some of this slack after the government sort of failed.”
Aliah Mohmand, a student at Kalamazoo College, who is studying alongside Emerson students at The Washington Center, a professional development organization in Washington, D.C., was more frustrated with how the Center handled the shutdown rather than the shutdown itself.
“At first, the Washington Center told us we were not going to lose our old internships, even if the government shutdown lasted over a month,” she explained. However, around the end of October, she said students received a notice to the contrary.
“They went back on their word and said, we want you guys to find new internships and you won’t be able to keep your old internships,” she said.
Mohmand said she traveled by plane only once during the shutdown and didn’t encounter many issues. But as the shutdown wore on, air travel became more and more complicated as federal agents at airports were required to work without pay.
Transportation Security Administration and the FAA agents were working understaffed and unpaid for the entirety of the shutdown, causing flights and airports to take a noticeable hit. The lack of TSA agents lead to hours-long security lines at multiple airports, and understaffed FAA controllers reportedly lead to instances such as the near collision between a Delta and a Cape Air plane at Logan Airport on Oct. 30 as a result.
“Since the beginning of the shutdown, controllers have been working without pay, and staffing triggers at air traffic facilities across the country have been increasing,” FAA wrote in a statement to The Beacon. “This has resulted in increased reports of strain on the system from both pilots and air traffic controllers.”
TSA responded to The Beacon’s request for comment with a similar statement asking for “the public’s patience and understanding as our officers are forced to work unpaid at this time.”
The prospect of flight delays and cancellations worried students who planned to travel in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Freshman theater education major Madison Thacker, originally from Los Angeles, encountered issues when attempting to fly to New York City for the weekend on Oct. 23. Due to consistent delays, she chose to take a bus rather than her originally planned flight.
Speaking with The Beacon before the shutdown ended, she expressed worry about traveling home for the holiday.
“I can either buy the really expensive [plane] ticket or I can pay to stay here at Emerson [over break]. Either way, I’m kind of screwed over because I can’t get home,” Thacker said.
Thacker explained that flights were already expensive and continued to increase significantly as the shutdown progressed., Thacker said the shutdown taught her the importance of flexibility and preparedness when travelling.
“Because everything was changing day to day, it added a lot of stress to my life, but it also made me think realistically about every possible outcome that could happen,” she said.
Thacker said she was eventually able to find affordable flights to LA. However, due to the uncertainty during the shutdown,she struggled to find a flight that would accommodate her desired schedule.
Senior Jason Marciada, a visual media arts major from San Diego, flew home at the beginning of the shutdown when his grandfather passed away. He originally planned to miss his classes that Wednesday and Thursday, but due to delays and miscommunications, missed his connecting flight in Detroit, forcing him to take a later flight the following day. The original Boston flight on Wednesday ended up canceled around 4 p.m., which is the time Marciada has class.
“I wish I had the foresight to know I would have been delayed that late, because then I would have just attended class,” Marciada said.
He went on to say that he doesn’t believe that he learned anything from the shutdown.
“The only thing that I’ve felt is a decrease in trust in our government,” he said.
Marciada said he already went into Trump’s administration with little confidence in government, which only worsened as the first months of the president’s term went on.
“Now, I just have next to zero faith in this administration and our government to accomplish very basic tasks,” he added.
In a statement to The Beacon, Andrea Popa, the director of Emerson’s Office of International Student Affairs, said the office would continue to monitor the situation on behalf of international students, and encouraged them to connect with college staff for support.
Some students studying on the front lines of the shutdown in Washington, D.C. saw their internships disappear. Residents made the best of it, senior political communications major Henry Jones said, recalling how he and his friends visited a hot dog stand run by an IRS accountant. The stand garnered international attention due to the ironic humor of its setup and advertisement as “the only honest rip off in D.C.”
Jones also said he was disappointed in how the shutdown ended.
“Eight Democrats sold out the American people,” he said.
Mohmand similarly said that she believed that the shutdown had not accomplished much progress for either political party.
“Congressional representatives, they’re fine. They’re still getting their paychecks,” Mohmand said. “But at the end of the day, who ended up hurt? The hundreds of thousands of federal employees, the ordinary Americans, who are all suffering,”
Mohmand was ultimately able to return to her position as an intern at the Federal Trade Commission in the Bureau of Consumer Protection’s Enforcement Division. She found temporary work until the shutdown ended, working with TWC to resume work at her previous internship.
Other than affecting her work, Mohmand said the shutdown wasn’t actually a very upsetting or nervous time for her. She described how the time away from work allowed her to develop a tight knit group of friends, which included some Emerson students, with whom she spent every day exploring the city.
“Socially and emotionally, I had an amazing time. We found a lot of activities to do to stay active. I had a great time and I expanded my social network, if anything,” she said.
As a resident, Mohmand described how the city turned into somewhat of a ghost town. She said, while taking the Metro during what were typically considered rush hours, the stations were practically empty. The amount of people going out to eat and do other activities during the shutdown also noticeably dwindled, she said.
“It was definitely much, much quieter…and for all your federal employees who are missing those paychecks, that’s a really big hit,” she said.
Mohmand said she has chosen to look at the shutdown through a positive lens and focus on what it brought her, rather than what it took away from her experience studying in Washington, D.C. She said her training as a history major helped her to see the big picture of the shutdown instead of becoming enveloped in worry or anxiety about when it was going to end.
“I made lots of new friends, got to do a lot of networking and got to do all these experiences that I wouldn’t have if the government never shut down,” she said. “I always look back at it in retrospect. It definitely sucks I didn’t get to complete my internship, but look how many great memories and experiences I got to have in D.C.”
