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With less than half a day to cut a budget deal to delay or prevent a government shutdown, now would probably be a good time to familiarize ourselves with some of the facts about what a shutdown of the federal government would mean.
Neither the White House nor the leadership of either party has taken much time at all to inform Americans about what would happen if the government should have to shutter. Word is, the Obama administration has been afraid to provide authoritative information for fear they would be labeled by the GOP as wishing for a shutdown. By this logic, we shouldn’t fund hurricane prevention for fear of being seen as hoping for another Katrina, but, whatever, we are not afraid of information here at FDL.
Embedded here is about the most straightforward and complete take on who and what will and won’t be affected by a federal government shutdown. Please share it with anyone you think might need the info, and if you have any additional news about a government agency, service, or venue, please let us hear about it in comments.
46 Comments
Thank you, Gregg.
I don’t suppose they’ll stop spying on us and persecuting whistleblowers for a while.
No inspections of “the market.” Sorry, can’t seem to grab it from above. That sounds like a winner. I’m sure the stock brokers are crying over that.
And no inspections of mining operations. . .sounds like just what the Republicans ordered. Or agricultural business, trade. Yep, a winner.
In addition to the Federal government cash retention strategy that means tax payers don’t get their tax refunds on time, I’m sure that it breaks the stock brokers’ widdle hearts that nobody is minding the store.
I would seriously like to know WHY the House and Senate members are not loosing their pay as well. This needs to be seriously looked into for future problems.
Recommended! And Thanks Gregg, I wonder how many contractors are going to be shut down?? All this to control a Woman’s uterus. How fucking ridiculous the rePUKES are!! More white men demanding that women learn their place as second class citizens and that they know better than she all about her reproductive rights and functions. All Women should shut their Reichwing men off.
I think Wall Street will be upset that the Commodity Traders can’t speculate more on oil, gold, corn, and wheat during shut-down. It would definitely help the little people not to have daily price increases.
I think it is actually prevented by law (not sure which law, sorry).
Take heart, though, they lose access to the Capitol gym–which means those members who live in their offices have no access to the showers.
That’s like the same thing, right?
All Public and State Parks will shut down as well. Including the Zoos like in the 90′s. No mail through USPS.
When we have national Holiday’s the same shut downs will be for a Washington Shut-Down.
It is unfortunate that a shutdown will hurt some people, but a shutdown now could prevent something worse in the future. If the government IS sutdown, it will give citizens a taste of what government will be like under the Republican budget plan. I don’t think most Americans will like that. Maybe Americans will decide that there actually are some worthy government programs after all.
{ LOL } Do they still doctors visits and emergency medical care?
The Regressives sure changed the tone in DeeCee when they stopped bringing their families to the area. Set up a whole new clique culture. “The Family” would prolly never have existed if the wives had anything to say about it.
Are you sure about the no mail part??
If that’s the case then that’s different from the last one.
And weren’t there actually TWO shutdowns during Gingrich? (I dunno, I can’t count on my damn memory anymore)
COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC, APOLOGIES:
Are there any pups that are computer gamers? Specifically interested in Civilization V?? I’ve got an extra copy (which is really just a STEAM code) that I’d be glad to give a pup if anyone is interested.
Sorry for the off-topic.
I don’t suppose the military shuts down?
So if the government shuts down who will be writing all the checks? You know the tax returns for corporation.
So, do spouses of deceased retired federal employees still receive checks?
My mom is worried this will be stopped and I can’t tell from the document if this is covered or not. The nearest I can figure they will continue if it is covered under Treasury Dept. core payments.
If Obama and the Dems hadn’t caved on tax cuts for the rich that would be an additional sticking point in this crazy shit. Defund PP AND give even larger tax cuts to the rich or we’ll shut the place down. Assholes.
Congress Doesn’t Shut Down During a Shutdown
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2011/04/08/congress-doesnt-shut-down-during-a-shutdown
The document contradicts your claim about the USPS. It states that “The U.S. Postal Service would continue mail collection, delivery, and other operations.”
Someone nail the person who wrote that for improper use of a comma before the and.
No, they just don’t get paid. Congress does though which will be a comfort to those taking fire I’m sure.
Persecuting whistleblowers and cracking down on medical weed dispensaries will remain a top priorities.
That would be too easy if it did. It would eliminate many of our problems in one fell swoop!
It’s moot at this point. Obama and the Vichycrats could, (and probably will) cave on everything but BONER and gang would just move the goal posts again.
Geez! This is crazy! I’m trying not to focus on the anxiety of what would happen if the goverment shuts down (and I really hope someone processes my tax return before the shutdown!). Something that’s relaly cool and that is really helping me steer my mind away from fear and towards and more productive mindset is watching this awesome conference — The National Conference for Media Reform. Check it out here, where you can learn interesting things, and try to avoid going into panic mode over the goverment: http://www.livestream.com/freespeechtv/video?clipId=flv_26f73440-3ec9-48ce-80f0-80b558997734
U.S. Postal Service continues service in part because such things as Social Security checks need to be delivered to beneficiaries.
Defunding government spending on planned paranthood (1/3 of their income) would do all that?
So true. Why can D’s not see the pattern? Oh, yeah…they’re complicit.
Does ammmo fired at defenseless civilians by the US military stop in mid-flight when the shutdown goes live?
I had to work on contract and lived through the first shutdown (1995/1996). The Mid-Atlantic (NYC-Richmond, VA-PA-WV-DE) regional economy was very Federal government-centric and the commercial sector was already in a trough. Folks were being let go for Thanksgiving and Christmas which simply raised the anxiety about paying mortgages and, you know, *inconsequential* stuff like that. /s
After the shutdown was lifted, it took another quarter to get back to normal. As you might imagine, there were a lot of pissed off folks affected there who thought Congress was grand standing while on the clock. After 9-11 and Bush 43, the area economy became even more dependent upon Federal but military spending.
Wow! I just won a million dollars! All I need to do is send my bank account, driver’s license and social security number (strictly for verification purposes of course) and they will transfer a million dollars into my account! What could possibly go wrong? Next time you hear from me, I’m going to be buying a $20,000 FDL membership and starting the Margaret Circle.
The stock brokers and hedge fund managers will be fine because no one was ‘minding the store’ all along. However, hard disk manufacturers and online porn site operators will take a big hit!
Spot on. They want their slice of Citizen’s United too and will do whatever it takes to ingratiate themselves to big money.
No but presumably HAARP would shut down.
DING! DING! DING!
Yeah, well if you read that book, you’d know ‘The Family’ has been around since before FDR’s New Deal (which their found absolutely despised the concept, BTW, and who is also the architect of the ‘National Prayer Breakfast’)
“Are members of Congress exempt from a shutdown? Yes, as is the president. That’s because their compensation is financed by a resource other than annual appropriations, in this case, the US Constitution. Other exempted employees are those deemed to perform emergency work involving saving lives or protecting property, including military service, law enforcement, or direct provision of medical care, according to the most recent OMB directives, released in 2010. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D) of California and Robert Casey (D) of Pennsylvania last week proposed legislation to prohibit members of Congress and the president from being paid during a government shutdown, or retroactively. According to current law, furloughed federal workers are paid retroactively. The same protection does not apply to workers under federal contract or those whose jobs are disrupted by the shutdown.” (Note: the Senate did vote to suspend their pay.)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0223/If-a-government-shutdown-occurs-what-actually-happens
Blue Texan’s regularly scheduled post is up: Pew Poll: Americans Already Regret Giving House to Republicans
Wish we could ban flashing ad’s.
Thanks Gregg!
My favorite is that oversight of financial markets, and related enforcement actions, would end. Bug, or feature?
Anybody in any market after a shutdown is a lunatic.*
*Not a broker or financial adviser. Consult your own financial adviser before investing or divesting. Not meant as advice for your specific circumstances.
I came here looking for the “government fact sheet” about shutdown, but no where do I see a link or embedded document. Am I missing something???
Oops, never mind, I had to allow some scripts to run. Geez, there are about a gazillion scripts trying to run on this page.
It continues service because it is self-funding.
Yep. This is exactly as I (and many, many, many) others predicted. Obama caving on tax cuts decreed that the Repugs would go after entitlements and just about every other part of the budget actually *useful* with a meat cleaver. And controlling the House, they’d be guaranteed of getting at least *something*.
And all because Obama just couldn’t say “no” and let the damn tax cuts expire. He had *COMPLETE* control over that outcome–do *NOTHING* and the tax cuts would have expired and suddenly the budget looks a lot better and the arguments for spending cuts lose a lot of validity (not to pretend the Repugs wouldn’t try to make ‘em anyway).
And–to pile on the Dems too–there was plenty of opportunity back in 2010 to make future approvals of the debt ceiling permanent, so that hostage-taking by government shutdowns would be impossible:
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/03/05/end-government-by-crisis-no-more-government-shutdowns-or-debt-ceiling-votes-ever/
stewartm