Editorial: Not Much Harm — Yet

The opening days of the sad soap opera being played out on Capitol Hill apparently did little damage to the nation’s freight distribution system, according to what industry executives told our reporters last week.

But several officials warned that a prolonged federal shutdown could have a very strong effect on the trucking industry in particular — and the overall economy in general.

Trucking was spared in part because much of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration were spared from the employee furloughs since they are funded by money from the Highway Trust Fund and not the general federal budget.

And most security agencies were also exempted from the shutdown, which kept the borders and ports open.

“We’re clearly concerned because we think the government shutdown and the potential for ongoing debate over the debt ceiling could really have a very negative impact on consumer confidence and the overall health of the economy,” Bill Graves, president of American Trucking Associations, told a television audience Oct. 3.

“A lot of tonnage in this country, a lot of product, is moved in support of government functions,” Graves added.

Those quotes pretty much sum the situation up. The shutdown has the potential to send a shock wave through the economy, which is just starting to show signs of stronger growth over many quarters of tepid expansion.

That shock could come both directly — by removing a major customer from the freight markets — and indirectly, by encouraging already skittish consumers and fleet executives to keep their checkbooks in their pockets.

While the shutdown and the closing of most of the federal government is worrisome enough, as Graves referenced, there is growing apprehension through the business community that at least some members of this Congress are prepared to force a government default on the nation’s debt.

For trucking, it’s imperative that the situation be fixed speedily.

“As the economy goes, trucking’s going to go; that’s what it boils down to,” said Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist.

Congress should be embarrassed to have failed to find a solution to the budget debate without forcing a federal shutdown, and those lawmakers need to heed the warnings about what could happen if they fail to act in time to ensure that the nation pays its bills on time by raising the debt ceiling.