I know that goes against all the propaganda in my press, but I am the pulse of the people, not them. It is not only principal the Republicans are standing on, they really are trying to do what is right via the job-killing Obamacare abomination.
You need to remember a simple rule when decoding the propaganda pre$$: if you come under attack and are called bad names it means you must be doing something right.
"Services affected by a government shutdown; Tourists and homebuyers would be hit quickly" by Sam Hananel | Associated Press, September 30, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government shutdown would have far-reaching consequences for some, but minimal impact on others.
I'll bet I can gue$$ which intere$ts are in which groups.
Mail would be delivered. Social Security and Medicare benefits would continue to flow.
But vacationers would be turned away from national parks and Smithsonian museums.
Yeah, make the people mad by shutting down what they like paying for. Good move. I a$$ume the wars will be postponed and a halt put on all operations around the globe, right?
Low-to-moderate income borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays.
That's good because the last thing you need to be doing in this $y$tem is borrowing more money and having the government buy toxic mortgage-backed securities from Wall Street. That's how we got in this f***ing me$$.
Of course, it is ONE THING that the people have been SOLD ON -- the American dream of home ownership (after the banks fraudulently foreclosed on so many; where was government then? Playing catch up with fines after banks stole homes) -- will now be denied to those who were hopeful, thus angering another sector of the populace.
A look at how services would or would not be affected if Congress fails to reach an agreement averting a government shutdown at midnight Monday.
IN MASSACHUSETTS
A number of prominent Boston-area historical sites would end official tours or be closed altogether. Officials with the National Park Service in Massachusetts say the U.S.S. Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard, the Bunker Hill Monument, the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill and the Old North Bridge in Concord would be among the sites affected starting on Tuesday unless a budget deadlock in Congress is broken. More than 100 park service employees in Boston could be temporarily furloughed.
They can join the 40 million of us permanently out of work, thank you.
The disruption would occur at a busy time of year as many tourists stop to visit historic sites in Boston before heading to other parts of New England to view fall foliage. A number of planned school field trips would also be affected.
Again, maximum impact for anger.
RECREATION
All national parks would be closed, as would the Smithsonian museums, including the National Zoo in Washington. Visitors using overnight campgrounds or other park facilities would be given 48 hours to make alternate arrangements and leave the park. Among the visitor centers that would be closed: the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in New York, Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and Alcatraz Island near San Francisco.
That's one of the few things I want from government.
AIR TRAVEL
Federal air traffic controllers would remain on the job and airport screeners would keep funneling passengers through security checkpoints. Federal inspectors would continue enforcing safety rules.
Yes, the groping and cancer-causing tyranny is left untouched!
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
The State Department would continue processing foreign applications for visas and US applications for passports, since fees are collected to finance those services. Embassies and consulates overseas would continue to provide services to American citizens.
BENEFIT PAYMENTS
Social Security and Medicare benefits would keep coming, but there could be delays in processing new disability applications. Unemployment benefits would still go out.
They want you angry, but not too angry to take to the streets like the rest of the world (unless it is some controlled opposition protest, that will get noticed).
FEDERAL COURTS
Federal courts would continue operating normally for about 10 business days after the start of a shutdown, roughly until the middle of October. If the shutdown continues, the judiciary would have to begin furloughs of employees whose work is not considered essential. But cases would continue to be heard.
MAIL
Deliveries would continue as usual because the US Postal Service receives no tax dollars for day-to-day operations. It relies on income from stamps and other postal fees to keep running.
HEALTH
New patients would not be accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health, but current patients would continue to receive care. Medical research at the NIH would be disrupted and some studies would be delayed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be severely limited in spotting or investigating disease outbreaks, from flu to that mysterious MERS virus from the Middle East.
Uh-oh!
Does that mean a CONTROLLED RELEASE CULLING of the masses by means of biological agents used the "terrorists?"
FOOD SAFETY
The Food and Drug Administration would handle high-risk recalls suspend most routine safety inspections. Federal meat inspections would be expected to proceed as usual.
HEAD START
A small number of Head Start programs, about 20 out of 1,600 nationally, would feel the impact right away. The federal Administration for Children and Families says grants expiring about Oct. 1 would not be renewed. Over time more programs would be affected. Several of the Head Start programs that would immediately feel the pinch are in Florida. It’s unclear if they would continue serving children.
From a government that says it cares so much about kids?
FOOD ASSISTANCE
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC, could shut down. The program provides supplemental food, health care referrals and nutrition education for pregnant women, mothers and their children.
School lunches and breakfasts would continue to be served, and food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, would continue to be distributed. But several smaller feeding programs would not have the money to operate.
Oh, I see. The hungry bellies of children won't be that empty.
TAXES
Americans would still have to pay their taxes and file federal tax returns, but the Internal Revenue Service says it would suspend all audits. Got questions? Sorry, the IRS says taxpayer services, including toll-free help lines, would be shut as well.
As you can $ee, no big change.
LOANS
Many low-to-moderate incomes borrowers and first-time homebuyers seeking government-backed mortgages could face delays during the shutdown. The Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees about 30 percent of home mortgages, wouldn’t underwrite or approve any new loans during the shutdown. Action on government-backed loans to small businesses would be suspended.
Big bu$ine$$ will be ju$t fine. Already got there cut.
SCIENCE
NASA will continue to keep workers at Mission Control in Houston and elsewhere to support the International Space station, where two Americans and four others are deployed. The National Weather Service would keep forecasting weather and issuing warnings and the National Hurricane Center would continue to track storms. The scientific work of the US Geological Survey would be halted.
Hurricane season ends today, so.... ??
HOMELAND SECURITY
The majority of the Department of Homeland Security’s employees are expected to stay on the job, including uniformed agents and officers at the country’s borders and ports of entry, members of the Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration officers, Secret Service personnel and other law enforcement agents and officers. US Citizenship and Immigration Services employees would continue to process green card applications.
MILITARY
The military’s 1.4 million active duty personnel would stay on duty, but their paychecks would be delayed. About half of the Defense Department’s civilian employees would be furloughed.
I do not believe that is true; however, not a good idea. The soldiers are already pissed off enough as it is.
PRISONS
All 116 federal prisons would remain open, and criminal litigation would proceed.
Seems like all the ba$es of tyranny have been covered, 'eh?
VETERANS SERVICES
Most services offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue because lawmakers approve money one year in advance for the VA’s health programs. Veterans would still be able to visit hospitals for inpatient care, get mental health counseling at vet centers or get prescriptions filled at VA health clinics. Operators would still staff the crisis hotline and claims workers would still process payments to cover disability and pension benefits. But those veterans appealing the denial of disability benefits to the Board of Veterans Appeals will have to wait longer for a decision because the board would not issue any decisions during a shutdown.
But this government cares about you soldiers so much! They use every chance use you as a prop to reinforce the culture of AmeriKan militarism.
WORK SAFETY
Federal occupational safety and health inspectors would stop workplace inspections except in cases of imminent danger.
Who cares about workers anymore when there is a pool of so many unemployed willing to step in at a lower wage?
--more--"
"Government shut down as lawmakers stay divided; Federal services halt as lawmakers remained split on health care law" by Noah Bierman and Mattias Gugel | Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent, October 01, 2013
WASHINGTON — Government services ground to a halt early Tuesday as lawmakers, ensnared in an ideological standoff, failed to prevent a shutdown that nearly all of them said they wanted to avoid.
What offended me was the corporate pre$$ coverage at the stroke of midnight, as if the whole world suddenly came to a stop.
The first federal shutdown in 17 years will put 800,000 workers on furlough when the workday begins Tuesday. National parks and many federal offices will close. The length of the shutdown was uncertain....
The only measure signed into law Monday was one to pay soldiers during the shutdown, an effort by both parties to limit political damage....
I thought that was kind of important after what I saw above.
After weeks of squabbling that played out like a low-speed car crash, lawmakers had looked increasingly dispirited as the hours drew toward midnight. The closing question was the same as it had been all along: whether Boehner would break from the most conservative wing of his party and agree to let lawmakers vote on a bill to fund the government without gutting Obama’s health law, as Tea Party conservatives insisted.
If he does allow the vote his speakership is over.
Such a bill would probably pass in the House with the help of Democrats and keep the government open through either mid-November or mid-December, depending on which version is used. But it could cost Boehner his job as speaker.
An effort by House Republican moderates to force Boehner’s hand by voting down a Republican amendment failed, drawing only 12 Republicans, Monday evening. It put on stark display the level of control the Tea Party members have over the House caucus, which has surprised even Senate Republicans.
It is the PEOPLE'S HOUSE!
The staunch House conservatives continued to insist Monday, as they have for several months, that any measure to fund the federal government include provisions to delay, weaken, or kill the health law that they had campaigned against for three years. The House has voted more than 40 times to repeal the law, without success, because Democrats in the Senate and White House have pledged to protect it.
“One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government just to refight the results of an election,” Obama said Monday.
They did win the House, sir! They are simply doing their job and reflecting the will of the people.
Just minutes after he spoke with Obama by phone, an animated Boehner took to the floor and showed that he would continue to side with the Tea Party wing and not retreat. He insisted he was acting in the best interests of the American people.
“It’s not about me. It’s not about Republicans here in Congress,” he said, noting that Obama had already delayed a requirement that employers provide health coverage. “How can we give waivers and breaks to all the big union guys out there ... and yet stick our constituents with a bill they don’t want and a bill they can’t afford?”
He is either misinformed or lying, take your pick.
Also see: Limits on consumer costs in health care law delayed
Looks like you are the only get $crewed, American citizen.
“We listen to the people that we represent, and we have a responsibility to act on their behalf,” said Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, who serves on Boehner’s leadership team.
How dare you?That's not AmeriKan democracy!
It was not only constituents applying the pressure. All Republicans were well aware that their moves were under scrutiny from the Club for Growth, Senate Conservatives Fund, and other conservative interest groups that were prepared to slam them as “squishes” and endorse primary challengers unless they complied with the plans to use the government funding fight to battle the health law.
Right, the Republicans are all controlled by special interests, as opposed to well-meaning Democraps. I'm getting tired of the Globe's one-sided spin.
“The outside groups are scoring against it, agitating against it. That’s the problem,” said one Republican senator who opposed the strategy.
The White House and Senate Democrats — backed by polls showing most Americans would blame the GOP for a shutdown — said from the beginning that they would not negotiate over Obama’s signature first-term accomplishment. They called Tea Party Republicans hostage-takers, anarchists, and “banana Republicans.”
I'm sorry, I no longer believe agenda-pushing polls and the mouthpiece media narrative, and the name-calling only hardens my sense of righteous conviction.
“With a bully, you cannot let them slap you around, because today they slap you five or six times,” majority leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, told reporters Monday. “Tomorrow it’s seven or eight times. We are not going to be bullied.”
And as you can see after Syria, the world is sick of being bullied by USrael.
The day began on a negative note and stayed that way....
Happens every time I start reading a Globe.
Reid and other Democrats said giving any ground in the fight would encourage Republicans to use fiscal deadlines as leverage over unrelated grievances.
Reid also rejected a late-night effort by Boehner to appoint an official negotiating committee, with minutes to go before the shutdown. Reid said Senate Democrats would not negotiate on a long-term funding plan unless the House Republicans first approved a six-week plan to keep government open.
The next fiscal deadline is mere weeks away, over raising the nation’s debt limit. A failure to act on that deadline, allowing the government to default on its debts, could do more significant damage to the national economy than a shutdown. And Republican insurgents have already signaled they plan to negotiate over that deadline as well....
There they go, they did it again. Sigh. Think what you want of our politics. I didn't know Tea Party people were actively looking to kill AmeriKan troops and overthrow the government. They cite the Constitution enough. Maybe that is the problem, and why they get the tag from the ma$$ media.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts stood with other Democrats to defend the health law, which is expected to provide insurance for millions of uninsured. She also criticized Republicans for including a measure in one of its proposals that would allow employers and insurers to opt out of contraceptive coverage based on moral objections.
“I will never let backward looking ideologues cut women’s access to birth control,” she said. “We’ve lived in that world and we’re not going back.”
I expected her to toe the party line on a range of issues when I voted for.
Behind the scenes Monday, several Republican senators urged their House colleagues to end the fight and avoid a shutdown. “You’ve heard me many, many times. We will not repeal Obamacare and it’s just a matter of when we move on,” said Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican. “As I say, I’ve seen the movie before. I know how it ends.”
I know the feeling!
There were clearly House Republicans who were not buying that argument. Even if a shutdown harmed the GOP, many House members come from strongly conservative districts where voters back the strategy and might punish them if they appeared to retreat or compromise....
Plus they are the closest representatives we have their, unlike the $enate.
--more--"
Of course, the DEMOCRATS would never PLAY POLITICS with something so important, right?
"Obama, Democrats see opportunity in GOP’s actions; President’s stand-back posture suits his party" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, October 01, 2013
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s seeming willingness to allow a government shutdown without direct intervention helped illustrate how Democrats remained unified around the belief that Republicans would suffer the greater backlash — and that the GOP’s tactics could help the Democratic Party in 2014 and perhaps beyond.
Underscoring the strategy from his safe remove, Obama went before television cameras at the White House Monday and publicly scorned Republican leaders. It was his most visible action of the day on the subject.
“You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job,” Obama said, chiding House Republicans for giving too much credence to “the extreme right wing of their party.”
Not unless you are banks.
Related: Dimon, other bankers to meet Obama Wed
I'll be checking my Globe tomorrow and Thursday.
He said the GOP would be blamed for the shutdown of such national parks as Yosemite and of tourist destinations including the Statue of Liberty and the Smithsonian museum....
Republicans have criticized Obama for being more willing to negotiate with President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran than he is with them in Congress. But on the flip side, Obama has seemingly found traditional US enemies abroad easier to deal with than House Republican leadership.
I hate tradition.
As if to underscore his anything-but-shutdown focus, Obama met in the Oval Office on Monday not with House Speaker John Boehner but with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.
See: Obama is Okay?
Related:
"The Israeli leader was publicly more subdued while sitting side-by-side with Obama at the White House. He thanked Obama, and in a possible sign of moderation, Netanyahu repeatedly said Iran must give up its “military” nuclear program, raising the possibility that Israel might be open to tolerating limited nuclear activities by Iran. In the past, Netanyahu has said that Iran must halt all enrichment of uranium."
Has the Israeli leader seen the writing on the wall?
And as a mid-October deadline looms for raising the national debt limit, another flashpoint with Congress, Obama plans to leave on Sunday for a weeklong trip to Asia....
Then this political brawl is really not that serious, but makes for good copy.
And thanks for helping out with the greenhouse gas and pollution problem.
Obama also appears to be in a position to reap political benefit....
What?
A CNN poll, conducted over the weekend, found that 46 percent of Americans would fault Republicans in Congress for the shutdown, while 36 percent said they would blame Obama.
Gee, that is NOT NEARLY the MAJORITY DIVIDE I was led to believe!
Expressed more vividly in the same poll, 69 percent said congressional Republicans were behaving “like a spoiled child,’’ compared with 58 percent who said congressional Democrats were conducting themselves that way.
Translation: This was another agenda-pushing push poll designed to elicit the answers wanted.
Even so, a MAJORITY BLAMED BOTH PARTIES because THAT IS THE WAY WE SEE IT OUT HERE! BOTH are to BLAME for getting us in this ME$$!
“My view of Harry Reid and Democrats in the Senate and the White House is: Bring it on,” said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan political analyst. “I actually do think they want a shutdown. . . . They understand a shutdown is a political plus for them so they’re not going to cave.
What, what, what?
“Their view is, ‘Republicans painted themselves into a corner. Let them get themselves out of the corner,’ ” he added.
It has left Democrats with hopes they can retain control of the Senate, and perhaps even break the Republicans’ grip on the House.
Then you might as well mail in this country, because as bad as it sounds that shitty little Tea Party in the House has been the last bulwark against Obama's tyranny. I know it sounds horrible, and I know we are only talking on the fringes here, but the House Repugs are your saviors (in an oh so limited way).
What did we get when we had filibuster-proof Democrat control? More wars, more spying, more "security,"and a crappy corporate health plan.
Republicans are hoping that opposition to Obama’s health care law is strong enough that they will be rewarded for attempting to scrap or delay it.
The perilous path is giving mainstream conservative voices a serious case of the nerves.
“Some Republicans think they are sure to hold the House in 2014 no matter what happens because of gerrymandering, but even those levees won’t hold if there’s a wave of revulsion against the GOP,” the right-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote on Sept. 17. “Marginal seats still matter for controlling Congress. The kamikazes could end up ensuring the return of all-Democratic rule.”
I $uppose if the Wall Street Journal is worried about it we should take note. With AmeriKa's rigged elections anything is po$$ible.
Most analysts still consider the House an uphill battle for Democrats, particularly given the way many of the districts have been drawn to make seats safe for incumbents. But there are still risks for Republicans, particularly if opinions begin to solidify the way they did during the last government shutdown in the mid-1990s.
“If you look at the landscape race by race, you say there’s no way Democrats can get there,” said David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the Cook Political Report. “But if you look at the political environment as a whole, Republicans have some downside risk as a result of pursuing this strategy.
“If voters start to tune in and see House Republicans as more extreme and a serious problem, that could change the math quite significantly,” he added.
I suppose such things happen when you are trying to do the right thing.
In the Senate, 35 seats are up for grabs, but only a handful are expected to be in serious play. Republicans would need to gain six seats, as long as Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, as expected, wins back a seat in New Jersey this month that Republicans now hold because of an appointment by Governor Chris Christie.
Related: Senate hopeful’s messaging to stripper raises eyebrows
He's not watching his wiener?
Under most estimates, that means Republicans would have to win virtually all the competitive seats. Rothenberg, for example, rates seven seats as either pure tossups or leaning slightly one way or the other; Republicans would have to win six of those seats to reclaim the Senate majority.
I think they will and should, but who knows? It's over a year away.
Meanwhile, the next fiscal crisis facing Congress is on the horizon, and Democrats will be looking to capitalize politically again. Treasury officials have warned that the government will reach the debt limit by Oct. 17 if no action is taken....
--more--"
Who is to blame:
"Shutdown fight reveals deeper splits within GOP" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, September 30, 2013
WASHINGTON — The GOP’s civil war, another vivid display of Washington dysfunction.
It functions fine for Israel, the banks, and war profiteers.
Many Republicans are worried about what could become a harmful pattern for the party, and maybe even derail GOP hopes of winning control of the Senate in next year’s midterm elections.
“We have to find a way to broaden the message,” said Craig Robinson, who runs the Iowa Republican, an influential website in the key swing state. “Right now we’re a one-note party. I know Americans like reality TV because of all the drama. But come on, who wants to watch this?”
Wrestling, a football game, choose your analogy.
The intraparty warfare, spilling out from cable television shows to the floor of the US Senate, prolongs a rift within the party that has been festering since 2009, when the rise of the Tea Party movement threatened the GOP establishment.
Establishments need to be "threatened."
The heart of the dispute, then and now, boils down to an intense disagreement over pragmatism on one hand versus ideological purity on the other.
The two are not mutually exclusive!
Longer-serving lawmakers such as Senator John McCain of Arizona believe compromising to keep the government open is the prudent course for the party, warning that the Tea Party’s single-minded focus on using threat of a government shutdown as leverage to win concessions on President Obama’s health care law is a self-destructive path.
He sounds like a Democrat. That's why he is not president.
The Tea Party wing, represented by new firebrands like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and fueled by outside groups and fervent conservatives back home, believe they can rewrite the Washington rulebook and create a new political reality.
Cruz sat down when he should have stood up.
Although some predicted the new crop of conservatives elected in 2010 and 2012 would adapt to the deal-making culture of Washington, they show no signs of backing down.
That's why they are winning reelection.
As a result, GOP veterans, after once embracing the energy and enthusiasm of the Tea Party movement, are openly expressing frustration with the intransigence of their newer colleagues.
“A lot of them don’t have experience in politics or government or knowing what it takes to get things done,” said Representative Peter King, a Republican from New York. “It’s a different mind-set.”
Peter King is a puke.
McCain, who earlier this year called his Tea Party colleagues “wacko birds,” said he had never seen the type of gridlock that is infecting Washington.
“We are dividing the Republican Party rather than attacking the Democrats,” McCain said Friday on CBS. “It is very dysfunctional.”
Related: Sunday Globe Special: Democratic Iced Tea
Talk about dysfunction!
********************************
With midterm elections just over a year away, the deep divisions are threatening to hamper the party’s ability to retain the House and capture the Senate. The Republican National Committee report six months ago recommended focusing on topics like immigration, which could help the party appeal to Hispanics, a growing part of the electorate but one that has been much more likely to vote for Democrats.
Well, I was told it was pretty much dead, but then the agenda was revived the last few days (for political reasons?).
The Senate passed an immigration overhaul, but it has gone nowhere in the House. And with the budget and debt debate taking center stage for the next several months, any movement on immigration is unlikely.
Like I said, small fringe things but important.
Paradoxically, the one topic that has previously united Republicans — their opposition to Obama’s health care law — is now tearing them apart....
Obama turned the politics on them like he turned them on Israel!
Like McCain, other influential voices — including the Wall Street Journal editorial board, the Chamber of Commerce, and top political adviser Karl Rove — have urged House Republicans to avoid the type of shutdown brinkmanship that Tea Party conservatives are pushing....
Shouldn't THAT tell you something right there? The WSJ, CofC, and Karl Rove don't like Tea Party?
And Mitt Romney(?) says he disagreed with the strategy? Whose he anyway? He signed Obamacare into law in Massachusetts.
But Tea Party activists, as well as the Club for Growth and Heritage Foundation, are in no mood to listen to their party’s past two presidential nominees, who, of course, both failed to win. They have urged the party to remain united in doing everything possible to block the health care law.
“We must all hang together or we most assuredly will all hang separately,” Cruz, quoting Benjamin Franklin, said last week during a marathon 21-hour speech.
Democrats have been largely on the sidelines, happy to watch the Republican infighting without getting much involved....
President Obama has scolded Congress for not acting, but he hasn’t been in active negotiations. Obama supporters have felt burned by past negotiations, saying it was a mistake to try to cut any broad bargain.
Yeah, they thought sequester would bring them to the table and Obama was outflanked. I think both parties wanted sequester because the bankers wanted it, and set up the elaborate political ruse so they could blame the other to their respective constituents and continue the false left-right, conservative-liberal paradigm.
Just hours before a government shutdown, there are few signs of a resolution. But even if this crisis is averted, the legislation under consideration funds the government only until Nov. 15, meaning there will be another shutdown threat in less than two months. And next month, the government will start defaulting on its loans unless Congress votes to raise the debt ceiling.
Let 'em default then.
It means the battle over the budget, the deficit, and the president’s health care law — as well as for the soul of the Republican Party — will only continue.
The match is scheduled for one fall with no time limit.
“To some degree the Republicans are playing a high stakes poker game to see where it ends up,” Brabender said. “It could end up really well. Or it could be a disaster.”
Related(?): Sunday Globe Special: Poker Game
Globe folded.
--more--"
"Shutdowns have long history
We are used to gridlocked politicians.. But why padlock the Statue of Liberty?
To make people mad so they will demand the higher taxes, lower spending, and support calling for this "good government" to be reopened.
**************************
The potential for a partial shutdown Tuesday is a quirk of American history.
We call it the Constitution.
So if you are bored with blaming House Republicans or President Obama, you can lay some responsibility on the Founding Fathers, or President Jimmy Carter, or ex-House speaker Newt Gingrich.
I'm bored with the blame game so why do you keep playing it, Globe?
The framers of the Constitution gave Congress control over spending as a way to limit the power of the presidency.
A "quirk" of American history!
Lawmakers have often failed to pass some of the dozen or so annual appropriations bills on time, but agencies would spend without formal authority on the assumption that approval would follow.
In April 1980, however, Carter’s attorney general, Benjamin Civiletti, issued an opinion saying that when the funds are not appropriated, government must send employees home. They cannot work for free or with the expectation that they will be paid someday.
Five days later, funding for the Federal Trade Commission expired amid a congressional disagreement over limiting the agency’s powers. The FTC halted operations, canceled court dates and meetings, and sent 1,600 workers packing — apparently the first agency ever closed by a budget dispute. Embarrassed lawmakers made a quick fix.
More shutdowns occurred under presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, but those also were brief.
In 1995-96, Gingrich and President Bill Clinton wrestled the government to the ground because of spending disputes — twice.
These two shutdowns, for six days and 21 days, were the longest ever. Until now they were assumed to have taught politicians the folly of again powering down the world’s most powerful government. But maybe not.
Pandas also ‘nonessential’
The National Zoo’s “panda cam’’ and all other live animal cameras were to go dark in the event of a government shutdown.
Are you kidding me? Tax dollars are paying for that? That's why we need to reopen the government?
The zoo would be closed to visitors as well, official said, along with other prominent Washington tourist attractions.
The zoo tweeted Monday that ‘‘None of our live animal cams will be broadcast.’’ Officials say this includes the panda cam, which has been popular since the birth of a cub Aug. 23. The zoo tweeted: ‘‘The cams (incl. the panda cams) require federal resources, especially staff, to run. They have not been deemed essential.’’
Officials said a shutdown would not affect the feeding and care of the animals.
The good news: If a shutdown continues, all employees will be paid on schedule on Oct. 15 for hours worked from Sept. 22 through 30....
Like Obamacare, the shutdown will NOT AFFECT GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES!
--more--"
I don't get paid for doing this; in fact, it is costing me money.
Won't be shutting down anytime soon, though, unless it is unwillingly.
UPDATE:
"Traffic was lighter and the subway less crowded in Washington Tuesday morning. The Smithsonian museums website displayed a red banner noting that ‘‘all Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are closed.’’ On the zoo’s website, panda mom Mei Xiang could be seen snuggling with her weeks-old cub through the morning, until the feed was abruptly cut off around 8 a.m. Care of the animals will continue. Agencies like NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency were being nearly shuttered. The White House was operating with a skeletal staff, including household workers taking care of the first family’s residence and presidential aides working in the West Wing. A groundskeeper working outside Tuesday morning at daybreak said he was doing the job normally handled by four workers. Given the shutdown, White House officials were discussing whether President Obama should change plans for a trip to Asia scheduled to begin Saturday. The military will be paid under legislation freshly signed by Obama, but paychecks for other federal workers will be withheld until the impasse is broken. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers get to decide which of their staff members keep working and which are furloughed. Members of Congress will continue getting paid."
