As I watch the shutdown clock on CNN tick upwards I just keep thinking that this is really my “past due” clock. As a cable TV news producer I pay close attention to things like a looming government shutdown. But my second child was due September 29th so I kind of assumed this was a story I would never have to cover. 9/29 – that day came and went. So did 10/1. Congress couldn’t meet their deadline and come to an agreement in time to stop a government shutdown. And my baby missed her deadline and sent me into the past due spiral. Now here we are – nine days into a shutdown and ten days past my due date…..still waiting.
Strangely, both problems CAN be solved. The Republican House can pass a CR and get the government back in motion again. And I can just schedule an induction and get this baby moving on out. But we don’t. We just keep waiting for something to change. These feel like eternal staring competitions where we just hope the other person will blink first. As this goes on day after day we have to ask ourselves, “Is anything really changing?” Congress just keeps pointing fingers at each other while the media dredges up horror stories of those impacted. Today the focus is on military families denied death benefits. 17 active duty service members were working through this shutdown and were killed in action. But the $100,000 death benefit will be withheld until there is a resolution.
On the baby front, I just keep going the doctor every single day to make sure there is no distress. Monday they told me she is an 8 out of 8 on the healthy scale. Testing today came back “textbook perfect.” She is perfectly healthy and likes it right where she is. Nothing has changed in the last nine days.
Every day the standoff goes on the government is losing money. $450,000 a day is lost in revenue just from closing the country’s national parks. Not to mention all the associated businesses. My father attended a wedding last weekend. The happy couple had planned to get married on Lake Powell. But it was closed. They had to go with a back-up plan and many of the guests just scrapped the trip all together. That is a loss for everyone – the government, the local businesses, the wedding couple and the potential visitors.
On the other hand, every day that my baby is late she just gets bigger and hopefully healthier. The only real loss is my personal loss of sleep because of the discomfort. So, a resolution to the baby situation seems more imminent and yet much less urgent. In fact, she will be evicted this week. Her days of living off her mommy are numbered. She will arrive in the next few days to a country that will almost certainly still be squabbling over the future of her healthcare.
I don’t know who will win these staring contests or if anything will change in the coming days on either front but I do know that my baby will arrive before the United States hits the debt ceiling, which is the next big deadline looming for our country. I just hope someone flinches before then. These deadlines are important.