What makes this government shutdown different

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Government closures have always undermined food security. USDA inspectors, with departure wages around $ 40,000, must operate without salary. Many FDA inspectors are on leave and the agency suspends its routine inspections of food installations, attributing a skeleton crew inspection to lead only “for cause inspections”. In all likelihood, the presence of decreased and distracted inspection leads to diseases caused by food security risks which were otherwise detected and treated.

It is also true today. But the circumstances leading to the deadlock of current federal funding have considerably increased the issues.

Unlike previous closures, it takes place in the middle of an unprecedented withdrawal of support for the public health infrastructure of the national and local state. According to a 2022 report from the National Association of County & City Health officers (NACCHO), Federal Money – mainly CDC subsidies – represented 55% of the budgets of the local health service. During the year 2023, the CDC paid $ 14.9 billion to local states and jurisdictions. But earlier this year, the Trump administration
announced that it canceled $ 11.4 billion in appropriate CDC funding for states. The head of the Alabama Ministry of Public Health, who lost $ 190 million in federal funding, explained that the reduction: “does not only mean fewer dollars in or more programs – it also means discounts for many staff.”

The administration has developed its termination of the appropriate financing by the congress as a targeted attack against the obsolete funding of COVID-19 and the “awakened” priorities such as research on vaccination hesitation, LGBTQ populations and support for HIV prevention. But the magnitude of the cups will inevitably degrade more broadly public health infrastructure. In particular, in July, the CDC “discreetly reduced” the scope of food diseases from which it will expect the state and local partners to report within the framework of its active surveillance network (Foodnet), in recognition of financing constraints. Foodnet Partners played a decisive role in the detection of numerous national epidemics, such as the Listeria infections group linked to Boar meats last year who killed 10 people and in trouble. Now, many of these partners will cease to follow and make reports on Listeria And five other pathogens previously included in Foodnet, focusing only on Salmonella and E.coli.

This is disturbing because, even more than food security inspections, monitoring food diseases obliges the government to play a main role. Food companies have a financial incentive to keep their facilities clean and avoid legal proceedings of sick customers by their products. On the other hand, there is no money to follow foods of food origin and investigate their epidemiology. However, this surveillance activity plays an essential role – most essential according to some experts – to ensure food safety.

This judgment presents a more disturbing threat to food security because the assault against preceding public health has made food security more difficult. With fewer representatives of the government working to ensure that foods of food origin are reported, the sharing and analysis of data, the interview of patients of cases and the realization of epidemiological surveys, we can be blind that the government inspectors should have taken, until the consumer assessment has grown up in proportions of crisis. The result could be even more deteriorated from consumer confidence in food supply security from new stockings in August.

The path, however, is not clear. The administration has retained $ 410 billion (almost a quarter of total discretionary expenses) since their entry into office. Congress could end the closure tomorrow, and new financing appropriate for public health and food security, but this would offer little assurance that money reaches the state and premises health services. The solution, according to tens of thousands of federal workers who wrote to Democrats of Congress earlier this week, is to “refuse to support any budget which does not rightly refer the power of the bag to congress and to ensure that all appropriate funds are spent for our critical public services.” According to workers, “we will give up payroll checks in the hope of preserving the programs we have devoted to our lives to the administration.”

The will of federal workers to sacrifice sends a powerful message and further distinguishes the current closure of those of the past. The message can fall into the ears of a deaf to the congress, but consumers should note it. Food security protections and public health infrastructure underlying these protections, has long benefited from support through the political spectrum. There is no reason to change now.

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