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Government Shutdown 2019: All the Ways Americans Are Less Safe Because of Stalemate Over Trump's Wall

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Agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Transportation Security Administration have been mostly shuttered since the shutdown began in December.
Donald Trump and congressional lawmakers remain at a standstill over border security, with the president claiming that his long-promised wall is necessary to “protect our families and our nation.” But the federal government’s partial shutdown, which has stretched into its third week, may be making Americans less safe.
Agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, the Transportation Security Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, along with other departments tasked with protecting citizens, have been mostly shuttered since the shutdown began in December.
The FDA has suspended most of its food safety inspections, which means that the agency can’t be on the lookout for foodborne illnesses like salmonella, E.coli and listeria. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told NBC News earlier this week that it’s “not business as usual” at the agency. Of the agency’s 17,000 employees, more than 40 percent are furloughed during the shutdown.
“There are important things we are not doing,” Gottlieb said. “We’re doing everything we can to try to maintain our basic consumer protection role. That’s our focus.”
At the TSA, approximately 50,000 officials have been forced to work without a guaranteed paycheck. But many workers have either quit or stopped coming in, raising safety and security concerns.

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