Another U.S. government shutdown is imminent this week if Senate Republicans don’t end their blockade of an agreement to fund government operations beyond the last day of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.

While it is easy to avert our attention away from the train wreck that is about to occur in Washington, we remind our readers that this crisis of the Republicans’ making has wide repercussions that will impact much more than our 155,600-plus fellow Virginians who work for the federal government or the 2.1 million federal workers across the nation.

What we are talking about is an immediate impact on families who would be without paychecks for as long as the shutdown lasts. Estimates are that roughly 60 to 70 percent of federal employees nationally would be furloughed during a shutdown, with only “essential” workers still reporting for duty.

Those essential workers include federal law enforcement and border protection officers; prison guards and managers; air traffic controllers; medical personnel in veterans’ hospitals and other federal facilities; and possibly those in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, that would not include any of the clerks or support workers in any of those offices.

Some federal offices and operations would be shutdown, or partially shut down, should no agreement be reached by Congress to extend government funding beyond midnight this Thursday. National historic sites, museums and parks would be shuttered, for example.

According to the nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, new Social Security and Medicare filings and claims might not be processed; food stamp benefits to 42 million recipients could be delayed; mortgage and other loan applications would be held up because the Internal Revenue Service and/or Social Security wouldn’t be available to verify income and other information.

In this area, such federally owned properties as the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site and Richmond National Battlefield Park would be shut down. Federal inspections for food, agriculture and environmental quality and safety could be halted, including inspections of drinking water and hazardous waste.

In addition to federal employees, hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers and their families also would be caught in the crisis, as payment to those people and companies that provide goods and services to the U.S. government would be suspended.

When federal workers and contractors don’t get paid, there’s a huge ripple effect. No paycheck going out to federal workers can mean landlords, mortgage companies, utility companies and credit card companies won’t get paid, experts warn. Small businesses such as coffee shops and restaurants that depend on the dollars of federal workers eating lunch, grabbing carryout or making purchases might not be able to stay afloat.

This is not the first time the nation has dealt with a government shutdown. The last, a record 35-day shut down from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019, wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people and reduced economic growth in the last three months of 2018 by $3 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

This is yet another crisis of the selfish Republicans’ making. They would rather play politics and create chaos in the style of former President Trump than to govern effectively for the benefit of all people.

We commend U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner of Virginia for introducing on Wednesday the Stop STUPIDITY Act to put an end to future government shutdowns. In his bill, STUPIDITY stands for Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage In The coming Years.

“In the past, government shutdowns have left federal employees no other recourse than to drain their savings, tank their credit or choose between putting food on the table or keeping a roof above their heads,” stated the announcement of Sen. Warner’s legislation.

“The Stop STUPIDITY Act would allow federal workers to keep receiving a paycheck during shutdowns by automatically renewing government funding at the same levels as the previous fiscal year, with adjustments for inflation. This legislation would fund all aspects of the government, except for the legislative branch and the Executive Office of the President — effectively forcing Congress and the White House to come to the negotiating table without putting the economy at risk or hurting the American public.”

If lawmakers and the president’s office didn’t get paid during a shutdown, it may precipitate some positive change and avert a future shutdown.

We blame Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader from Kentucky, for blocking the latest efforts to reach an agreement. He and his band of GOP miscreants are intent on undermining Democratic President Joe Biden and any Democratic administration—like he tried with former President Obama—by crippling this nation with a shutdown and hurting as many Americans as possible. It is a dangerous political game that we believe will backfire as people recognize the GOP hand behind it.

Sen. McConnell and his GOP minions in the Senate also are aiming to tank the U.S. economy by refusing to raise the debt limit. Failure to suspend or raise the debt limit by Oct. 18 can cause the United States to default on paying its debts for the first time in history, creating severe economic consequences and making the U.S. dollar a less reliable cur- rency globally.

“The.full faith and credit of the United States would be impaired and our country would likely face a financial crisis and economic recession,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Congress earlier this week.

We call on our readers to contact Sen. McConnell’s office and those of other GOP senators and demand that they stop their effort to destroy the fiscal health and welfare of our nation and its people. We demand that they approve funding to extend government operations and also raise the debt ceiling.

We also call on our readers to contact Virginia’s two senators, Democratic Sens. Warner and Tim Kaine, and demand that they put pressure on Sen. McConnell and his Republican colleagues to stop playing politics with our lives. The consequences of inaction are too critical to ignore.