Government Shutdown

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.

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2013/10/shutdown-impact-how-it-affects-agencies/

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