10 01 25 iHeartRadio's Rory O'Neill discusses impact of current government shutdown

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is Colorado's Morning News Marty Lens Gina Gondec In morning.
We're officially in a government shutdown after lawmakers in Congress
failed to reach a compromise on spending.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
So what's open and what's not and how will the
government shut down impact your day to day life? Joining
us on the KWA Common Spirit Health Hotline as iHeartRadio
national correspondent, It's Rory O'Neil. Rory, appreciate your time as always. Okay,
let's start with the average American. How does the government
shutdown really impact somebody who just is going about their
day to day life.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Sure, short term, not very much. If this lasts only
a couple of days, you probably won't even notice. But
if this does tend to drag on, it could be
a big issue, especially if you have to get on
an airplane anytime in the next couple of weeks. Because
Medicare Medicaid they still go. You've probably got your Social
Security money deposited overnight for the first of the month.

(00:47):
The VA is open, as I said, the regular mail
services there. But if you need a passport or if
you've got other business with federal agencies, oh, you might
start having trouble trying to reach them, as a lot
of people won't be to answer the phones. What to
look out for is the fact that a lot of
these people who have to work may not be getting paid.
That may be cute for a couple of days, knowing

(01:09):
you're going to get the money back, but if this
drags on for weeks or thirty five days, like we
saw in the last shutdown, you start seeing TSA workers
and air traffic controllers call in six days, and that
starts to become a real travel issue.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
One of our listeners are on our text line said hey, look,
they're all going to get paid, but it may be
delayed or back pay. And I responded back saying, yeah,
but there's discussions of these some of these people that
are furloughed being permanently let go and fired. They're not
eventually going to get paid. Right, there's a chance of.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
That, Right, there is a chance they might get to
pay they would have gotten. But then again their job
may be over, you know, once they get cut, and
because they are being furloughed, it actually empowers the administration
to take more aggressive actions for some of these permanent cuts.
They've already compared it to those two point zero. So

(01:55):
we'll see, and again, I think it's going to depend
on how long this lasts. Now there are some more
votes today that could perhaps take some action if a
lot of Democrats want to flip. But if we don't
resolve this soon, it looks like it's either going to
be this is, you know, quickly repaired, or we could
be in for the longer haul for the shutdown.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Rory. If we're looking for the longer haul, what are
some of the other impacts. I know National Park Service
was one that was tossed around about what we can
expect for our national parks.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, getting a passport could take a lot longer when
it comes to national parks. You know, in the last shutdown,
it was such a mess because they left the parks open,
but they didn't have the staff to clean or stock
the bathrooms or take out the trash and things like that.
So it took a long time actually to repair all
that damage and get things operational again. So the Park

(02:43):
Service has been asking the administration.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Please just let us close.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
It's easy to close the gates. It'll be faster for
us to reopen because cleaning up from the last time
was a real mess.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
And Rory, the biggest hang up and why we're shut
down is because, if I understand correctly, Democrats wanted to
make sure some of the subsidies for the government healthcare
we're going to be I guess a lot to remain
in place because of the cost of that in the
Republicans saying yeah, we'll have the discussion once we fund
these other things first and continue that down the line
is that where the divide is.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah, it really is apples and oranges. The Republican idea is,
let's just keep spending like we do through November twenty first,
the Friday before Thanksgiving. But the Democrats, who are weak
in Washington, this is their one trump card to play,
as it were, They want to undo some of the
stuff in the Big Beautiful bill that includes taking away
those Obamacare subsidies. The Democrats are trying to get those

(03:33):
subsidies put back in and do it now because a
lot of people are starting today, a lot of people
are starting to get the insurance bills for next year
and noticing they're at least eighteen percent higher or more.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
iHeartRadio National correspondent, it's Rory O'Neil. Thanks Ry, Thanks Gina