Newest shutdown casualty: Trump’s own policies

Among other administration priorities, the government shutdown is hampering efforts by agencies such as EPA and the Interior department to unwind Obama-era energy regulations. Credit: Brennan Linsley, File, AP Photo

From energy to opioids to trade, proposals championed by the president and his supporters are snarled in the D.C. impasse.

The government shutdown is threatening important pieces of President Donald Trump’s agenda, escalating the political stakes as he and Congress vie to see who blinks first.

At EPA and the Interior Department, furloughs have frozen efforts to roll back Obama-era regulations and open new water to oil and gas drilling. The White House has sent home key staff coordinating its response to the opioid crisis. And if the partial shutdown drags on long enough, it could force Trump to cancel a late-January trip to Davos, Switzerland, and delay congressional action on the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal.

Trump shows no signs of backing off, telling reporters that the shutdown — triggered by his demands that Congress fund a border wall — has “a higher purpose than next week’s pay.” But the potential blowback to his own policy priorities shows that the closure is likely to inflict cascading harm as it continues, beyond its initial impact on parks, museums and federal workers’ paychecks.

View the complete January 8 article by Eric Wolff and Brianna Ehley on the Politico website here.