Voters Don’t Want a Shutdown, They Want Action on the National Debt Instead
Congress faces a September 30 deadline to find agreement on a budget and avert a government shutdown. A vast majority of voters is urging them to come together to find a solution.
A new Peterson Foundation poll shows that nine-in-ten Americans want policymakers to work together to avoid a shutdown and focus on implementing solutions to our growing national debt. Strong majorities of voters across party lines believe a shutdown should be avoided because it harms the economy (77%) and because it distracts from America’s larger fiscal challenges (70%).
As Foundation CEO Michael Peterson said, “Nobody wins in a government shutdown, especially our economy and the American people.”
See the below infographic for further details on this new polling.
Further Reading
What Is the Disaster Relief Fund?
Natural disasters are becoming increasingly frequent, endangering lives and extracting a significant fiscal and economic cost.
How Much Does the Government Spend on International Affairs?
Federal spending for international affairs, which supports American diplomacy and development aid, is a small portion of the U.S. budget.
A Brief History of U.S. Government Shutdowns
Government shutdowns (and the threat of them) are a recent phenomenon and something other developed countries don’t contend with.