Media, Law & Policy

Everyone Loses During a Government Shutdown

Tuesday, January 9, 2018, By Sawyer Kamman

Once again, Congress is facing a looming government shutdown as legislators return to Capitol Hill and begin the fight over immigration and budget items. Congress must come to an agreement on these contentious issues by next Friday to avoid a government shutdown.

David Van Slyke, Dean of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, says that public shutdowns are a lose-lose proposition for everyone involved and only further “erode confidence in American governance.” Van Slyke is available to talk to reporters about the impact of a government shutdown.

“Citizens lose because tremendous resources are directed to planning a shutdown, and shutting down and restarting the government,” said Van Slyke. “Elected officials lose because citizen trust and satisfaction in the work of our representatives declines, and many Americans who rely on the government for any number of programs and services lose because they do not receive the services they’ve paid for with their taxes.”

“Finally, the public servants working to implement and evaluate programs and their effectiveness lose because they are often maligned about their own performance and subsequently demoralized working in institutions where there work is not valued,” says Van Slyke.

“There are ideological winners who have demonstrated a point when the government shuts down. But, for the average American and certainly for those individuals and organizations that work day in and day out to make our nation stronger, safer, and more effective, government shutdowns do little to improve performance and rather erode confidence in American governance,” says Van Slyke.

In addition to serving as Dean,  Van Slyke is also the Louis A. Bantle Chair in Business-Government Policy and formerly oversaw the Syracuse University’s department of public administration and international affairs, home to the country’s #1 ranked graduate degree in public affairs.

Reporters interested in talking to Van Slyke, please contact Ellen James Mbuqe, director of news and PR at Syracuse University, at ejmbuqe@syr.edu or 315.443.1897 or Keith Kobland, media manager at Syracuse University, at kkboland@syr.edu or 315.443.9038.