Not much gets shut down in government ’shutdown’
Bring on the shutdown!
Seriously, you can’t turn on a TV or radio and not hear about the imminent “shutdown” of the federal government.
I’m sick of hearing it.
Republicans were considered the losers of the last government shutdown, headlines like this did not help.
Why? Because it is all political posturing. Very little will be “shut down.”
Don’t believe me? Fortunately, we have fairly recent history to look to for proof.
Since 1981, there have been five government shutdowns, but only the two in 1995-1996, which pitted President Bill Clinton against House Speaker Newt Gingrich, are remembered by anyone except historians and federal employees who got a few extra, albeit nervous, paid vacation days.
Who was affected in the last shutdown? Largely those on vacation — tourist attractions maintained by the government (like the Smithsonian museums) and some national parks were shuttered. The issuance of passports was delayed. Other paperwork was delayed by the 21 days of less work.
But everyone kept getting their government checks on time. And the military kept working, and so did the FBI, CIA and 87 percent of federal workers deemed “essential.”
Politicians have until midnight Friday to cement a budget deal. So far, they’ve not been able to agree to cut $33 billion from the federal budget. If I was $14 trillion in debt, I think I could vote “yes” to trimming at least that much from my spending.
I am betting they run it up to the wire to maximize how much face time potential 2012 presidential candidates get on Fox or CNN. A pity they can’t use their time keeping federal workers working.
UPDATE: Wednesday, a White House official said the shutdown would close national parks, delay tax refunds and prevent 800,000 workers from going to work. There’s also word that military members would not get paychecks in a timely fashion during a shutdown, but in the past Congress has always made sure servicemen are taken care of.
** The Washington Post has a nice Q&A on what effect the shutdown would have.
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31 comments Add your comment
DW
April 5th, 2011
4:14 pm
FIRST.. this is lame!
BettyLou
April 5th, 2011
4:20 pm
All I knows is when the government shuts down I get a crapload more responses to my craigslist ad.
Old Geezer
April 5th, 2011
4:22 pm
I don’t know who I am voting for in 2012 but I know who I am not voting for.
Hates Republicans
April 5th, 2011
7:40 pm
Hey arrogant Republicans – this will backfire on you big time. And remember – SENIORS DO VOTE
Not Dem or Rep, just a tax paying American
April 5th, 2011
7:52 pm
@ Hates Republicans, when everyone is supported by the government, who do you think will be paying the taxes to keep you butts living high off the hog. Rightttttt. When the government finally has all of you, you will have nothing. Thats how it works. Quit drinking the liberal drink and take a long long look at your kids. Do they deserve a socialist America to try to survive in? Is that what our forfathers left you? No its not. Is that really what you want for their future. To give 85% of their pay to taxes and be given very little back.
Lets try a new concept shall we. No welfare, no handouts, everyone does a job and earns a living for their own families. Wait, wait, we cant have that. Some of you would actually have to get out of bed!
DoingDrugsDude
April 5th, 2011
8:54 pm
Um, a Democrat (Alice Rivlin) helped write this bill too. All you republicrats need a reality check.
Winfield J. Abbe
April 5th, 2011
8:55 pm
End all wars immediately. Bring the troops home tomorrow. End all foreign aid immediately. We are the country in need of foreign aid. Cut the defense budget about 90%. We have enough weapons now to destroy the whole earth. Abolish 90% of foreign bases. We cannot be the policeman of the world. Abolish the secret federal reserve bank. End the failed war on drugs. End the failed war on cancer. End most so called “university” research as most of it is worthless corrupt garbage. Abolish the FDA as it is corrupted by the food and pharmaceutical companies.
Abolish the corrupt NCI and NIH. The corrupt heads of these institutions belong in jail. End the outrageous waste of money continuing to keep the conjoined twins alive in Chicago, $ 4 million so far and rising. End all such aid immedidiately. Stop forcing hospitals to treat anyone who comes through the door. Emphasize disease prevention through nutrition. One could think of many more suggestions which, like those above will be ignored. America is bankrupt in more ways than one, but nature will take its course if the corrupt cowards running America continue to fail to act.
Craig
April 5th, 2011
9:20 pm
Winfield…
I agree with a good bit of what you said, but consider this: over 50% of the federal budget is for entitlement spending: social security, medicare, medicad assistance and I’m sure other stuff I don’t know about.
Foreign aid is relatively small (look it up, you’ll see). Wars are very expensive and I agree we can’t be the world’s policemen much more. However, until we address ALL of the issues (including social security and medicare) this problem won’t be fixed.
Believe me, I getting pretty close to the age I can get social security and personally don’t want to get hit (selfish…I know…but at least I’m honest), but as a country we will HAVE to address it. Even if it negatively impacts all of us, including me.
There will be no simple fix and if we don’t resolve this pending disaster, watch the dollar fall further and worse case no longer be the world’s reserve currency. If/when that happens, we can’t imagine all the hell we will all share.
I hope we can get our hands around this. Not just for our kids and grandkids, but for US as well.
Dean Steele
April 5th, 2011
9:39 pm
Republican duking it out with the Democrats, it is like the Wrestlemania that came to town last week-end. It’s all a fake match with a lot of hustle and tumble, meant to divert attention from the real problems that these politicos can not even contemplate, much less solve. These politicians, from both of the corporate political parties, are simply actors on a media stage directed by the power complex. Only fools believe it is for real.
Another Voice
April 6th, 2011
8:14 am
The interesting fact that no one seemed to call out —— 87% of workers are deemed “essential.” So, let’s get rid of the 13% of current government workers who are “non-essential” and see what that does for the budget.
2,750,000 federal civilian employees (non-military)
13% of which is 357,000 that would be “non-essential”
at average pay of $60,000 (and not including benefits!)
is $21.45 BILLION.
And that’s a good portion of the $60B+ Republicans want to cut … without touching the sacred cow of Republicans (defense, foreign aid, and keeping taxes low for rich people and businesses) or the sacred cows of Democrats (Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and other entitlement programs).
But I’m willing to bet neither party is willing to really cut that many workers in the run-up to presidential election year.