On Monday, Republican and Democratic members of Congress were not able to meet their funding deadline, affectively shutting down the government Tuesday morning, something that has not happened in almost two decades. This shutdown is a major issue that brings about many repercussions, one being the closing of many government funded programs such as NASA, the U.S. National Park Service, and the closure of many museums and all of D.C.’s monuments to name the least. With the shutdown, nearly 800,000 government employees have been furloughed for the time being, keeping them out of work at home and uncertain about their future.
Despite the closing of federally funded locations, one can see that even in the hardest times, Americans find a way to pass, literally.
Enter the Honor Flight Network, a group that works with World War II veterans all around the country, raising money to send men who served our country to the capital for a free visit to the monument dedicated to their brave service. The Honor Flight Network has tours set up daily for these veterans but with the government shutdown, the reality of getting these vets to the monuments seemed hindered. But one tour of veterans in particular and some very adamant lawmakers refused to stand down.
On Tuesday, a group of veterans from Mississippi and Iowa arrived at the monument to find it closed and taped off. Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi Republican Representatives Steven Palazzo, Alan Nunnelee, and Gregg Harper met the group at the monument, along with other lawmakers, moving the barricades and cutting the police tape. The veterans proceeded with their planned tour and bagpipe wreath-laying ceremony, a sentimental event shared by all in attendance.
In a released letter to the President, Republican Congressmen Steven Palazzo of Mississippi wrote, “I request that you immediately instruct the Department of Interior and National Service to ensure that veterans are not denied access to monuments on the National Mall in the case of a government shutdown. It is the very least we can do for our greatest generation who sacrificed so much on behalf of our country.”
There is nothing greater we can do as American citizens than to honor those who have given their lives to make sure we all sleep safe at night. As someone who has a long line of military men in my family, including relatives who fought in World War II, I understand the importance of honoring those men and women. In my mind, Representative Palazzo said all that needed to be said; why block these men from seeing what we built to thank them for what they did?
The shutdown has caused many other monuments and programs to close their doors, however, one can grasp how widespread the effects of the shutdown are just by reading about these vets. When one who served cannot be given the honor of remembering their fallen, it puts into perspective just how far this shutdown has reached past a halted government.
No one can say how long the shutdown will last but one thing is for sure: sometimes in the midst of these problems, the best thing to do is to step back, remember how far our country has come, and thank the men who got it there.
Links Used:
http://www.kxan.com/web/kxan/news/veterans-pass-barriers-at-closed-wwii-memorial
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/live-updates-government-shutdown-countdown/story?id=20421142