M A R C H 2 0 1 8 8 POTATO GROWER Budget Stalemates and Government Shutdowns Have Real Consequences Congress and multiple Presidential Administrations have replayed the government shutdown game of chicken many times over the past few years. Because it is recycled so often, we can become numb to its impact and the threats surrounding it. However, the brinksmanship isn’t just fodder for pundits on cable news outlets. It has real negative consequences for our industry and those should be made known to our representatives, so they can avoid repeating it. Each time the government is shut down, resources stagnate. The peo- ple we rely upon to deal with imme- diate issues at USDA, EPA, the Office of the Trade Representative and oth- ers simply aren’t on the other end of the telephone or email until the government is reopened. If the shutdown lasts a substantial period of time, those impacts magnify. For example, the Obama Administration came to a stalemate with Congress and the government was shut down for 16 days in 2013. During that time, the operations of the H-2A guest worker program stopped and producers who needed labor for harvest were unable to secure those workers. Perishable crops suffered and money was lost unnecessarily and permanently. The H-2A example is the worst-case scenario as government operations were halted for a long period of time. However, most shutdown threats don’t end this way. It is rea- sonable to ask whether the drama of the threat is largely just bluster. Unfortunately, the answer is no. There are pervasive consequences to the threats and the “Continuing Resolutions” that are Congress and the Administration’s way of avoid- ing the issue temporarily. When a Continuing Resolution is passed, the government continues to be funded at the same rate as the prior year for a limited period. However, agency heads do not NPC Mes sage by John Keeling, NPC Executive Vice President and CEO