30,000 WORKERS SIDELINED - AND HOUSTON DOES WHAT WASHINGTON D.C. WON'T
When a crisis hits Houston, we don't crumble. We rise and rally.
It's what we do when natural disasters try to break us. We're a city that knows how to recover and rebuild when hurricanes flood our streets or winter storms freeze our homes.
Now, we face a different type of crisis. As many as 30,000 federal employees in the Houston area have been furloughed as part of the federal government shutdown that started Oct. 1.
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Republicans blame Democrats, and Democrats blame Republicans.
But the fact of the matter is paychecks have stopped, and the bills will not.
Georgia politician and voting-rights advocate Stacey Abrams calls the shutdown "the next phase of the authoritarian power grab," designed to strip hardworking Americans of healthcare and their livelihoods.
Now is the time, she said, to "be present and help our neighbors when money gets tight. Mutual aid matters. Go to food banks, make donations, do whatever you can."
It's already happening in some parts of Texas. The Armed Services YMCA in Killeen reports record lines at its food pantry for military families impacted by the government shutdown. The nonprofit, which serves more than 150,000 military families annually, is also offering flexible payment plans for childcare to help ease the financial burden and parental stress.
So far, none of the Houston organizations I contacted have seen an increase in demand due to the shutdown, but it's less than a week into the shutdown.
We've been here before. During the 2018-2019 federal shutdown, which lasted 35 days - the longest in U.S. history, Houston-area businesses stepped up. They offered free groceries and meals, free admission to museums and family events and even discounts on pet care. At the time, nearly 400,000 federal employees nationwide were furloughed, delaying about $18 billion in federal spending.
Meanwhile, lawmakers still got paid. Their salaries, about $174,000 for most members of Congress, are funded through permanent appropriation and immune from the shutdown.
Here, the Texas Workforce Commission allows federal employees who are impacted by the government shutdown to apply for unemployment benefits during that period of time. But unemployment alone may not be enough.
As Houstonians, we know that resilience isn't about rebuilding lives after a crisis; it's about showing up in community as the crisis unfolds.
A donated meal, bag of groceries or a simple act of kindness is how Houstonians do that every time.
We banded together for the people of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when the Astrodome became a shelter for families who lost everything. During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when so many families were separated from their pets, NRG Arena became the largest temporary animal shelter in the city with more than 500 animals and hundreds of volunteers.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Houston's Chef Chris Williams spearheaded meal deliveries to seniors and launched Lucille's 1913, a nonprofit that has provided more than 400,000 meals.
It doesn't even have to be a crisis for Houstonians to show up. Every Saturday, volunteers with We Are One, in partnership with the Houston Food Bank, distribute free vegetables and meat to nearly 300 families at the Shrine of the Black Madonna church.
With each crisis, Houston proves it can't be broken.
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