Shutdown Siege in Georgia: How a Washington Standoff Is Starving Families and Service Members

By Katie Cook
Policy Research Assistant for Independent Women’s Forum

With no end in sight to the government shutdown, every day Georgians are being harmed. Families are skipping meals, veterans are losing vital support, and small businesses are teetering on the brink of collapse. There are roughly 109,000 civilian federal employees affected by this shutdown who call Georgia home.

And for what? For extending COVID-era Obamacare subsidies passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress in 2021, which were intended as temporary but now the same politicians want to make permanent.

As Patrice Onwuka wrote in The Hill, the Left’s approach amounts to “cut[ting] off aid to the poor to give the rich cheaper insurance.” Indeed, these subsidies disproportionately benefit higher-income households and entrench policies that undermine workforce participation—they also create a healthcare system that is more, not less, affordable, since insurance companies are incentivized to hike up premiums if the ACA expansion continues and allows them to take ever-increasing amounts of hard-earned tax dollars in the form of subsidies.

The Left bears the burden for this fiasco.  The only reason the government remains closed is because some politicians have refused to prioritize a clean continuing resolution, a bipartisan lifeline that has averted crises 13 times in the past four years. Georgia Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock have voted against the continuing resolution to fund the government every time it has been voted upon this month. This shows they care more about pushing their agenda than actually helping their constituents. 

There are real-life consequences for this, especially for members of the military and their families—a fact that should shame every elected official. More than two million active-duty service members are laboring without compensation, and for one in five of them, military pay is their family’s only lifeline. Over 100,000 of those members reside in Georgia with their families at one of Georgia’s nine bases. Already, one in four military households grapples with food insecurity, according to Pentagon data. 

Congresswoman Katherine Clark, who holds a leadership position in the Democratic Caucus  bragged recently about how families will suffer but they are “leverage,” that have to be used. Tell that to the 1.4 million Georgians who rely on federal assistance for food. That number includes 231,000 WIC beneficiaries whose benefits will be paused. The Georgia Department of Labor announced SNAP benefits will not be available as of November 1st until the government reopens or temporary relief is made available. 

For those who genuinely qualify and depend on food assistance, SNAP should be available. It’s despicable that programs intended as a lifeline for the truly vulnerable are being used as leverage for partisan gain.

To illuminate the human stakes, Independent Women launched the “Gridlock Hurts Real People” campaign last week, collecting raw, unfiltered stories from those caught in the shutdown’s crosshairs. 

Two Georgia military wives responded saying, “We won’t be able to pay our mortgage with this stupid shutdown. End the shutdown,” and “It seems like the Senate is all about their own agenda, and not the American people. Think about the service members who depend on getting paid on November 1st. My husband is active duty. Thanks to the Senate, who won’t end the shutdown, we won’t be seeing a paycheck.”

Several other individuals from Georgia responded to the comment drive expressing their deep worries about not having access to food and medical care. Many were worried about their children going hungry. All echoed a sentiment that political gamesmanship in Washington is taking precedence over innocent Americans. 

Perhaps most heartbreaking, in North Carolina, a neighbor to Georgia, a woman battling cancer, reliant on federal programs for her medications and care: “I depend on government programs for survival. Please have compassion — these games are risking the lives of your most vulnerable citizens.” This shutdown has real life implications on everyday Americans.

With each stalled negotiation, the shutdown’s collateral damage — delayed cancer treatments, unpaid mortgages, skipped school lunches — only mounts. Economists estimate the fiscal hit could top $10 billion by month’s end, but dollars can’t capture the eroded trust or the quiet despair settling over households.

It’s time for those on the left to drop the posturing and embrace the bipartisanship they’ve praised in better days. Pass a clean continuing resolution today. Fund the government through the holidays, then return to the table for the substantive debates on spending, subsidies, and security that define our democracy. Our troops, our veterans, our families — they can’t wait for the next election cycle. They need action now.