With a partial U.S. government shutdown increasingly possible by the end of the week, Rice University experts can provide insight into what is at stake, how a shutdown could happen and the likely effects on the economy, public health and federal policymaking.
John Diamond is the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Senior Fellow in Public Finance and director of the Center for Tax and Budget Policy at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. His research interests are federal tax and expenditure policy, state and local public finance and the construction and simulation of computable general equilibrium models. His current research focuses on the economic effects of corporate tax reform and various other tax and expenditure policy issues.
Luz Garcini, director of the Center for Community and Public Health at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, faculty scholar with the Baker Institute’s Claudio X. González Center for the U.S. and Mexico and associate professor of psychological sciences, is available to discuss how a potential government shutdown may impact food security and the mental health of immigrant communities. Drawing on her research on immigrant health, food insecurity and the psychosocial effects of immigration enforcement, Garcini can speak to how interruptions to federal services and assistance programs amid heightened uncertainty could exacerbate stress, anxiety and resource instability for historically marginalized populations.
Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies and professor of political science, is available to discuss the political forces driving the looming government shutdown. Jones can explain why funding impasses have become a recurring feature of Congress, how partisan polarization and internal party dynamics shape negotiations — particularly around Department of Homeland Security funding — and what a shutdown could mean for governance, public confidence and the broader political landscape.
To schedule an interview or for more information, contact media relations specialists Avery Franklin at ar119@rice.edu or Kat Cosley Trigg at kt73@rice.edu.