PHOENIX — President and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry Danny Seiden broke down how the government shutdown will affect residents in Arizona.
Seiden told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday that despite other notable Arizonans saying the government shutdown will not affect the average person, he believes it will.
“Shutdowns impact all of us,” Seiden said. “You might not see it right away or feel it right away or really even understand.”
What will the government shutdown affect for Arizonans?
The first area of impact Seiden highlighted was work permits.
The Arizona commerce CEO explained with the cuts and furloughs taking place in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, jobs in Arizona will be affected.
“All this new big investment, all these manufacturing jobs that are coming into Arizona or even the U.S. right now, they need permits to get going,” Seiden said. “That’s how they can start hiring and that’s why we can see better job numbers. That’s all frozen right now while the shutdown is going on.”
As far as small businesses, Seiden said they will be affected by the halt of U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.
“We’re one of the fastest growing states when it comes to small business creation and we use SBA loans to get there,” Seiden explained. “All those new loan programs are halted right now. People can’t get their loans processed. So if that’s not happening, that access to capital becomes a real choke point.”
Seiden called the shutdown an embarrassment with SEMICON West, a microelectronic exhibition, coming to the Phoenix Convention Center next week.
“First time it’s ever being held in Arizona, very exciting time, but we’re doing it a time when we have a government shutdown,” Seiden said. “And these companies that want to invest in America, when are we going to get our permits? What’s your power generation going to be? All that runs through the federal government, all the jobs that we need to grow, that needs to happen.”
Seiden highlighted the federal government can create the environment for America to create jobs, but it can also create the environment for the nation to lose jobs as well.
Seiden’s thoughts on the government shutdown
The CEOemphasized the Arizona Chamber of Commerce has always disapproved of shutdowns, no matter which party has started them.
Despite Seiden agreeing health care costs are important, he doesn’t believe the function of the government should be leveraged in order to get funding for expiring health care subsidies.
“It’s not good government, it’s not a good way to do things and it’s going to hurt people,” Seiden said. “And the questions is, ‘Well … there might be some pain, but we’re trying to help 24 million Americans.’ You’re going to hurt millions more just by doing it this way.”
Seiden noted the U.S. Senate is supposed to be one of the greatest deliberating bodies in the world and that’s what it needs to be now.
However, Seiden believes the shutdown will only end when the “pain point” gets too high and one side breaks.
Instead, the CEO would like to see the Senate pass a continuing resolution so everyone can come back to the table on health care.
“We’re doing big things in America, bringing manufacturing jobs back, generating all the power that we need for the next generation,” Seiden said. “All of that requires government workers, permit processing, research, data, scientists. So, I would hate to see … our government lose employees that we need. … There very much is a need for good civil servants out there, and I would hate for us to lose them in the federal government.”
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