Editorial voice from elsewhere: Local communities are suffering during shutdown
A three-week reopen is certainly a good sign, but is it enough?
The government shutdown, marked as the longest in United States history, is so much more than some political squabble taking place in Washington, D.C., over a $5.7 billion disagreement about something wanted at the border of another country.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a short-term bill that, while it does not include the funding to begin building a border wall, will allow government to operate for three weeks.
The shutdown has already adversely affected the people right here in the communities of Fayette, Greene, Westmoreland and Washington counties, and although the president offered up a temporary stop, what happens when those three weeks are up?
We urge our readers to pay attention.
Last week, Fayette County Housing Authority Executive Director Mark Yauger told the Herald-Standard that county Section 8 and Public housing programs are funded only through the end of February, and that should the shutdown continue beyond that, the effects could be “pretty devastating.”
That means our elderly, disabled, single-parent and other neighbors who use this program could be out in the cold in just weeks unless a final, more long-term decision is made.
Those who use the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as the food stamp program, are being warned by Gov. Tom Wolf to make the benefits last through February, because the fate of the program beyond then is unknown.
In other words, our families, the kids down the street, the students in our elementary classrooms, the elderly residents in our high rises, may not have enough to eat in a few weeks.
That’s not acceptable. Not in our neighborhoods. This isn’t their fight. We would venture to guess it isn’t a fight they want fought on their behalf. We are sure federal workers would rather just go back to work. We believe WIC recipients would rather know they will be able to secure formula for their babies in March. We can’t help but believe the elderly residents just want to know they have a place to live. They may be able to breathe a small sigh of relief, but the worry is not over.
It is a rough time already, indeed, for families across the country. Here at home, the best we can do is support those the shutdown affects the most. Be proactive by donating to the food bank, whether in the form of food or monetary donations. Continue to check in on your neighbors, and be sure those near you have what they need. No one should be looking down the barrel of devastation.
Each of us needs to step up to the plate and take care of our own instead of putting up walls around them.