Scientists and the American public have been feeling the effects of the longest (partial) shutdown in Washington’s history. While roughly two-thirds of the government received its funding on-time, a partial shutdown occurred on December 20, 2018, when congressional leaders and the White House failed to fund the remaining one-third due to disagreements over funding for a proposed US-Mexico border wall. The partial shutdown became the longest in American history on January 12, 2019, as it surpassed the previous 21-day record set in 1995.
Of the 800,000 federal employees who were furloughed or forced to work without pay, thousands were researchers. Internal scientific work was all but halted at the Agriculture Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The damage was not limited to intramural researchers, as extramural researchers felt the pain as well.
The NSF funded over $118 million in research grants from December 2017 to January 2018, but due to the shutdown, no grants have been funded in 2019. Even families or school trips attempting to visit a National Park or a Smithsonian museum were, in most cases, unable to during the shutdown.
According to a January 28, 2019, report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), government spending was reduced by $3 billion and economic growth was hurt during the shutdown. As a result, analysts believe U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) may be reduced by as much as 0.2% in the first quarter of 2019.
While the end of the shutdown comes as a relief, Congress and the White House have a limited window to reach a deal to prevent another lapse in government funding. The Biophysical Society advocated for a speedy end to the government shutdown.