In my house, everyone tunes in religiously to new episodes of Deadliest Catch, the show chronicling crab fishermen competing in the Bering Sea. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but it's hard not to be caught up in the dangerous business of crabbing in open waters.
Today boat captain Keith Colburn gave testimony to a Senate committee to tell them what the shutdown has done to him.
In his testimony, he called for the government to "end the shutdown now", saying he is "a small businessman with big bills and [he] needs to go fishing."
As Colburn points out to Jake Tapper, what the government deems to be "unessential staff" are essential to those small businessmen who depend on them to issue permits so they can get on with the business of crabbing.
The shutdown isn't just affecting fishermen, either. Hunting season opened on October 1st, except that it didn't. That means that all of the people who depend on sportsmen for their "season" are suffering financially as a result of the shutdown.
Many of the stories are coming from deep red states like Texas, Idaho, Montana and North Dakota.
Anyone want to guess how long it will be before the House reinstates appropriations for permit issuance?
