Government Shuts Down as Congress Misses Deadline

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373104579107051184641222.html

by ISL • 13 years ago

81 43 13 years ago

online.wsj.com

orsenthil• 13 years ago

I can't understand this. What is meant by Government Shuts Down? No law and order will be enforced?

Cub3• 13 years ago

The US government is on partial shutdown. So many hundreds of thousands of US government workers will either 1. not be paid to work, or 2. be furloughed (not go in to work). This applies to non-essential workers (found a list here - http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/09/politics/government-s... ).

Retroactive pay will apply once things are worked out.

rbritton• 13 years ago

One important thing not to forget, Partisan issues aside, is that both Congress and the President still get paid without any hiccups.

dxhdr• 13 years ago

When would a full shutdown occur?

nearengine• 13 years ago

Working without being paid during the furlough ("volunteering") is outlawed[1] to prevent employees from suing for back pay... which is also not guaranteed by any law. CNN simply made that assumption because it was granted during the last major shutdown.

http://www.bsnlawfirm.com/newsletter/OP0413_Natter.pdf

saraid2162• 13 years ago

An acquaintance stated that he won't be able to enter campus to check on his live specimens. So they're going to die. I didn't get any details from him, but I'm sort of hoping he's talking about bacteria...

ck2• 13 years ago

I imagine a Koch brother handing the other a single $1 over a bet they could shutdown the government like in Trading Places.

D9u3• 13 years ago

Maybe the loser has to donate an extra million dollars or so to the winner's favorite charity?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/02/koch-brothers-give-m...

malkia• 13 years ago

Does anyone know how would this affect public schools?

seanalltogether• 13 years ago

I've always been under the impression that public schools and police services are all managed by state/local taxes and not tied to the federal budget.

LandoCalrissian• 13 years ago

They get federal dollars for certain things, but you are correct that they are managed and largely paid for by their respective state.

clarkmoody2• 13 years ago

Perhaps those in D.C. will be affected.

jacalata• 13 years ago

DC schools will not close, although I don't know what rule/categorisation/whatever is being applied. The mayor is attempting to keep all city functions going: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Waits-to-See-If-I...

daegloe2• 13 years ago

We had two similar "partial shutdowns" of the US Gov't in the 1990's. Democratic President refusing to cut healthcare-related spending vs. Republican-controlled Congress holding the debt ceiling hostage. Sound familiar? Same game, different players.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_governmen...

khuey2• 13 years ago

In the 90s Congress failed to pass a budget. Holding the debt ceiling hostage was never seen or tried as a legitimate political tactic before the last few years.

daegloe2• 13 years ago

Nope. In the former speaker's own words...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/opinion/gingrich-obama-congres...

clarkmoody2• 13 years ago

Wouldn't it be nice if the federal government were small enough that it contained no personnel who were "non-essential" ?

progn• 13 years ago

Actually, no. That wouldn't be nice at all. Large government solves the collective action problem and is necessary to have a modern, functioning civilization. I'll take a welfare state over your Randian hellpit any day.

squidi• 13 years ago

It's impossible to have only "essential" staff as you will always need "non-essential" staff to support their work. For example, NASA TV employees are "non-essential" [1] but without the TV station it may mean lots of kids are not inspired by NASA any more. Also, Labor statisticians are "non-essential" but would you rather the Department of Labor make decision on gut feelings instead?

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/09/27/us/who-goes-to...

insertnickname• 13 years ago

I'd rather not have a Department of Labor.

vacri2• 13 years ago

Some of the non-essential staff that are being suspended include those who process passports. Surely the oversight of documentation stating that you are a citizen of a country should be a government function? Privately-controlled citizenship data would be particularly ripe for corruption.

mahyarm• 13 years ago

Well theoretically, your birth or naturalization certificate is proof of citizenship, not a passport. And travel can theoretically be done without any sort of passport too. Historically passports are a very recent thing in the history of travel.

Also I'd imagine passport & citizenship documentation is a very small part of the government.

garg• 13 years ago

NASA is almost completely shutting down. They are all essential. Essential and non-essential are simply legal terms that define who gets a paycheck during such fiascoes. We have huge datacenters that are mostly (there's going to be one guy who runs through checking for any emergencies such as water leaks etc) unmanned now and there is no climate science being done. They are essential but are being furloughed anyway.

'Essential', in many cases, mainly means emergency personnel who keep the facilities safe. Important work has stopped.

PeterisP2• 13 years ago

You can classify tasks on two scales - important vs trivial; and urgent vs postponable. This legal definition is about the second one; valuable tasks that aren't urgent are "non-essential", but a guard at the entrance of some useless warehouse is "essential".

rodgerd• 13 years ago

From the perspective of someone who live in a Westminster-style democracy this is made especially bizarre by virtue of the fact that failing to be able to pass a budget bill results in new elections[1]. If you're going to block the budget, you'd better be damned confident that voters agree with you.

[1] I suppose technically it results in the head of state inviting other political partites to form a government, and then calling elections when they can't.

coffeeaddicted2• 13 years ago

One sad aspect of this is that it won't have any effect on the income of the involved politicians.

summerdown2• 13 years ago

If they were on suspension too, how would they get together to eventually agree a fix? I agree about the incentives being wrong, and I think the whole thing is ridiculous, but unfortunately, they're exactly the ones who have to keep working until it's over.

coffeeaddicted2• 13 years ago

Doesn't have to be all or nothing. But they are responsible for this mess, so cut their income by 50% or even just 25% for the time. Or reducing their income by X% each day where they can't find a solution.

PeterisP2• 13 years ago

Oh, have them come to work but skip all their compensation until they pass a budget that includes it.

Government Shuts Down as Congress Misses Deadline

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