Now in its fourth week, the government shutdown has resulted in thousands of layoffs, billions in economic loss and millions of unpaid federal workers missing paychecks. I sat in CNN’s Washington, D.C. studio with my classmate Raghav Akula (SFS ’27) Oct. 15 to watch Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) answer questions about the shutdown in a town hall hosted by Kaitlan Collins on “Shutdown America.”
We heard firsthand accounts of the hardships faced by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers, teachers, government lawyers and air traffic controllers amid financial uncertainty. Yet, during what could become the longest government shutdown in history, the two progressive icons offered empathy, conviction, humor and hope.
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez said at the town hall that they were unwilling to pass a funding bill that would end the shutdown without health care concessions. If a funding bill is passed without the Democrat-backed health care subsidies, it would double premiums for millions of Americans, a move projected to lead to 50,000 additional deaths each year.
Ocasio-Cortez criticized Republican lawmakers leaving Washington, D.C, and saying they will negotiate on extending the subsidies only after the government reopens. At a time when such political gridlock feels inevitable, this moment calls on young people — especially those of us in D.C. — to do more than watch from the sidelines. Whether it’s interning on Capitol Hill, volunteering for advocacy groups or simply engaging in honest political conversation, Georgetown University students have a role to play in demanding accountability and bridging divides.
Students must take action not only because of the larger national funding crisis, but also because the shutdown affects us as well, through delays in processing international students’ enrollment and financial aid. Students who are federal employees also face financial barriers as they are furloughed or working without pay.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders argued that Republicans are holding over a million federal workers hostage by refusing to show up — let alone negotiate — while handing out trillions in tax breaks to the richest people and cutting healthcare for working-class people. If neither side is willing to budge while people continue to go without paychecks, one may question how the shutdown can actually come to an end. I believe that by exerting pressure on the Trump Administration and rejecting the false narrative that Democrats are prolonging this shutdown to secure health care for illegal aliens, Republicans may finally be compelled to come to the table. We students have our own role to play here — whether through protest, advocacy, social media or even political discourse.
The pair also addressed other pressing issues, such as the ongoing genocide in Gaza, legally contentious missile strikes on Venezuelan “drug boats” and the suspension of blue-states infrastructure funding, an action even some Republicans, such as Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), are urging the administration to reverse. I really appreciated that, despite tackling complicated and controversial issues, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez presented themselves as authentic human beings who care and are willing to fight for real change, rather than bureaucrats more concerned with party politics than with everyday people.
It is rather easy, especially in this age of polarization, to see the District as irreparably broken. But Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders’s insistence on showing up — and their demands that others do the same — is a message worth heeding.
As Georgetown students, we do not need to be in Congress to come to the table — being in Washington, D.C., affords us the opportunity to pursue meaningful activism on Capitol Hill. We can join protests such as No Kings, post on social media, volunteer for advocacy groups or attend town halls like this one. We can bridge political divides and foster conversation, creating a culture of respect and political discourse. As future changemakers, we must act with the courage to contribute to the issues we care deeply about, reach across the aisle — to those with whom we have fundamental differences — and do the work.
Yajat Gupta is a junior in the School of Foreign Service.
