U.S Government Shutdown Underway; What Advisors Need to Know

Proposals that would have funded the U.S. government failed in the Senate during the eleventh hour, effectively shutting down the government at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday. The following is important information for travel advisors with clients travelling to or through the U.S.

As the shutdown takes hold, travellers are expected to face long delays at airports, U.S National Parks and borders. Given the number of Canadian travellers who use U.S. gateways or connect through U.S. hubs, even modest delays could snowball. For travellers on tighter schedules, transfers or connecting flights could be jeopardized.

Airport and border employees are deemed essential, meaning they have to continue to work without pay. Everyone from border control to air traffic controllers to airline maintenance crews will be affected and it’s expected there will be some staffing shortages due to reluctance to work and overall stress, resulting in increased delays for travellers.

For perspective, CNN reports that according to a plan the Transportation Department released in March, there are more than 13,000 air traffic controllers who will continue to work unpaid during during a shutdown.

The shutdown is expected to compound the economic issues caused by an existing drop in overall Canadian travel to the U.S.

Trains, Parks and Visas

Train travel, for example Amtrak, will not be affected by the shutdown. All 433 of the country’s National Parks are expected to close fully or partially; some entrance gates may be locked while others won’t have any visitor services available. Canadian travellers visiting U.S. destinations should double-check local closures before departure.

Many visa services operate privately and won’t be affected, but any operating under the government will. Canadians using U.S. visas or travel authorizations might experience slower processing.

The shutdown was caused by the inability of Republicans and Democrats to pass a spending bill which would fund government services into October and beyond. The main issues surround health care; Democrats are calling for a reversal of cuts to Medicaid and oppose spending cuts made by the Trump administration to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC0 and the National Institutes of Heath (NIH).

This isn’t the first government shutdown in the Trump Administration, there have been three; including the longest in U.S history which lasted 36 days in 2019.