Now in its fourth week, politicians in Washington continue to play the game of government shutdown. Ordinary citizens pay the price while politicians blame each other. Meanwhile, political credibility slides further south. This nonsense has to end.

The shutdown has so far resulted in the furlough of roughly 700,000 federal employees. Roughly that many are working without pay. More than 500,000 federal workers missed their first full paycheck on Friday.

Right here in Lucas County, more than 71,000 people could lose their SNAP benefits, starting Saturday. About 31,500 of those are children, and about 40,000 are adults.

Active-duty military personnel, FBI agents, deportation officers, and air marshals are working and getting paychecks. Others in less flashy roles are going to work each day

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