The US House approved
$5 billion for the border wall and the Senate needs to approve this as well.
The Shutdown episode of the Congressional Soap Opera may not play out.
25% of our federal
employees are designated as “nonessential”. These are federal employees who
work at federal parks, museums, monuments and all other federal agencies. For
some their workplaces don’t open and others are just sent home. Federal
employees subject to shutdown furloughs are wise to have some savings they can
live on during the shutdown.
Many federal agencies are no longer functioning with all or
most of the staff furloughed at the Commission of Fine Arts, Economic
Development Administration, Minority Business Development Agency, Interagency
Council on Homelessness, Risk Management Agency, Federal Maritime Commission,
Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Commerce where 15,641
employees at the Census Bureau were told to stay home.
These employees are
unpaid during the furlough, but their benefits continue. Congress has always approved their back-pay
for time not worked after the shutdown ends.
A Shutdown is, in the end, a paid vacation and is a good deal for those
with adequate savings.
There were 850,000
nonessential government employees affected in the 2013 Shutdown.
We should consider
having Congress be unpaid when they miss their budget-passing deadlines. We
should also consider closing some of our nonessential government programs. I
don’t think nonessential services is included in the “enumerated powers” section
of the US Constitution.
Government Shutdowns
are a charade Congress uses to stage their budget soap opera. Yawn!
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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