S. HRG. 113–615 THE IMPACTS OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ON OUR ECONOMIC SECURITY HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 11, 2013 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 93–946 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:20 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\93946.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Ranking BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROY BLUNT, Missouri MARK PRYOR, Arkansas MARCO RUBIO, Florida CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DEAN HELLER, Nevada MARK WARNER, Virginia DAN COATS, Indiana MARK BEGICH, Alaska TIM SCOTT, South Carolina RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut TED CRUZ, Texas BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii DEB FISCHER, Nebraska MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts JEFF CHIESA, New Jersey ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director JOHN WILLIAMS, General Counsel DAVID SCHWIETERT, Republican Staff Director NICK ROSSI, Republican Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:20 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93946.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 11, 2013 .......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 1 Report dated October 11, 2013 entitled, ‘‘Impacts of the 2013 Government Shutdown’’ by the Majority Staff of Senator Rockefeller ........................... 28 Statement of Senator Wicker .................................................................................. 41 Letter dated October 9, 2013 to Hon. Penny Pritzer, Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce from Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator; Don Young, Congressman for All Alaska; and Doc Hastings, Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources ................................................................ 45 Statement of Senator Warner ................................................................................. 47 Statement of Senator Nelson .................................................................................. 48 Statement of Senator Schatz .................................................................................. 50 Statement of Senator Begich .................................................................................. 51 Statement of Senator Heinrich ............................................................................... 53 Article dated October 2, 2013 from The New Mexican entitled ‘‘New Mexico amid shutdown: Economist warns of another recession’’ by Bruce Krasnow .............................................................................................. 54 Statement of Senator Cantwell .............................................................................. 57 Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 59 Statement of Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................ 60 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 63 Statement of Senator Markey ................................................................................. 66 Letter dated October 10, 2013 to Hon. Edward J. Markey, United States Senate from Susan K. Avery, President and Director, Woods Hole Oceanographic Instutition ............................................................................ 68 WITNESSES Hon. Deborah A.P. Hersman, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board ..................................................................................................................... 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Hon. Marion C. Blakey, President and Chief Executive Officer, Aerospace Industries Association .......................................................................................... 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 11 Dr. Alan I. Leshner, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science and Executive Publisher of Science ........................... 15 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 16 Captain Keith Colburn, Alaska Fisherman, Owner and Operator, Fishing Vessel Wizard ....................................................................................................... 20 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 21 Rachel Weintraub, Legislative Director and Senior Counsel, Consumer Fed- eration of America ................................................................................................ 22 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 24 APPENDIX Response to written question submitted to Dr. Alan I. Leshner by: Hon. Amy Klobuchar ........................................................................................ 79 Hon. Brian Schatz ............................................................................................ 79 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:20 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93946.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:20 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93946.TXT JACKIE THE IMPACTS OF THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ON OUR ECONOMIC SECURITY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2013 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:08 p.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA The CHAIRMAN. Good morning, all. This is our situation. The Re- publicans have just finished meeting with the President at the White House. They’re either—I think they’re on their way back, but coming back on a bus is sort of not like coming back in a Jag- uar. So they will be here. John Thune may or may not come, and if he doesn’t come I bless him, and if he does come I bless him, because this snowfall—this is what happens when you’re in Washington and then you read about snowfall in the upper Midwest. One-half of all the cattle in his state were killed, and that’s their business. That’s their busi- ness. They’re not North Dakota; they don’t have oil. They’re South Dakota; they’ve got cattle and farming. One-half. If he comes back, that’s glorious. If he doesn’t, then we should all wish him well in that. Losing cattle is—they’re not people, but they cause people to lose their way of living. You think I should just leave it right there, head into my state- ment? You promise not to go to sleep this time, Mark? [Laughter.] Senator BEGICH. It depends which Mark you’re talking about. [Laughter.] Senator BEGICH. I’m always overjoyed and enthusiastic about your opening statement. The CHAIRMAN. Are you? You’re probably interested in fisheries, aren’t you? Senator BEGICH. We love fish. The CHAIRMAN. Do you? Senator BEGICH. And we love crab. The CHAIRMAN. Do you? Senator BEGICH. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Would you like the Captain, too? Senator BEGICH. I love the Captain. The CHAIRMAN. OK, that’s good. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:20 Apr 15, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\93946.TXT JACKIE 2 Senator BEGICH. I want to get him back to work. The CHAIRMAN. All right, here we go. In 2008–2009 this country went through the worst recession since World War Two. We will probably never all agree about what or who caused any of this, but we know that the comeback from the great recovery has been very slow—from the great recession has been very slow and very, very painful. It’s odd, actually, to look at the charts. There continues to be new jobs pumping into the economy, which is the good part. Then you start thinking about all these people that have been laid off and then all the ripple effect of all of that, so you don’t really know where the economy is. But you have the feeling that it’s not mak- ing much progress, and a lot of people are trying hard on that. So five years after that crash, unemployment remains at very high levels, stubbornly. And while our country is finally growing a little bit, it isn’t really a whole lot of satisfaction. I think we can say that fairly. Our financial experts and our business leaders are telling us that it’s still a fragile recovery, that the economy is still not systemically coming back the way they want. They’re saying that if we’re not careful with our actions—and nobody’s been very careful around