Another government "shutdown" looming?

[LeeRevell]

Seems this occurs with annoying frequency. The politicos reconvene on the 25th of April, after their two week Easter break. They have til the 29th to fix a problem......
The government will "shutdown", due to funding issues. Well, we know what that means. Closing public access to national parks, monuments, museums, etc.
But rest assured, our stalwart national leadership will continue to get full pay and benefits. Hooray.
Same old shuck&jive. :-(

 

[OutdoorFT]

We need a govt makeover

 

[slynne]

Heh. My brother is a federal government employee and he kind of likes these shutdowns because he gets extra time off. That is part of why they are so expensive btw. They always go back and pay the employees for the time when they couldn' t work. That is a good idea since the government, like most employers, has an interest in retaining employees but it is very expensive. I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[hepcat]

It's no different than it was in the '70s and '80s under Ford, Carter, and Reagan. I went without more than one payday when I was in the Navy in the mid to late '70s, and it continued under Reagan's hand. Of course, the military was still expected to be on duty even though the government wasn't cutting checks. I was always amazed that my landlord and creditors didn't care that Congress couldn't get its act together.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

I never got back pay when I worked for the Federal Gov't... I got unemployment benefits until I was called back, which was usually less than a week later, so I got NO pay for my time off... Hmmm... I got shafted! But then, that's why I want to change my lifestyle anyway!! ROFL

 

[slynne]

They didnt pay you? I thought they gave everyone back pay but obviously I am wrong. I'll bet Members of Congress get back pay. grrr

 

[AbuelaLoca]

I should be stealthier than this, but I worked for the IRS for 11 years. No, no back pay! But, in the 11 years, there was only 2 times that we were "shut down". Our "year end" was in October... One year I told my daughter that I saw Santa in the "unemployment line" so Christmas would be scarce LOL

 

[akrvbob]

In the past, it has been because of fighting between parties. But with Republicans in control of both houses and as President, there should be no excuse for it to happen at all.

It would be a real black eye for them, I'm nearly certain it will not happen with them in control of both houses.

 

[Gunny]

The only time my child support was late was when my ex's allotment didn't get mailed.

State Dept employees and most of the salaried workers will get paid. it's the poor guy just trying to get by who takes it in the shorts. And it's both parties, we, the Great Unwashed, are the pawns.

Rob

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

In the past, it has been because of fighting between parties. But with Republicans in control of both houses and as President, there should be no excuse for it to happen at all.

It would be a real black eye for them, I'm nearly certain it will not happen with them in control of both houses.

I believe the Democrats plan to filibuster in the Senate.  They did away with it for nominations, but it still exists for regular legislation.  They would need 60 votes to end it so they could vote on the bill.

Personally, I wish they would do away with the filibuster entirely.  It's anti-democratic, in that it permits a minority to frustrate the will of an elected majority.

For those that are interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_in_the_United_States_Senate

 

[LeeRevell]

During my USAF years in the late 70s, twice that fool Carter delayed signing the budget, which delayed our paychecks. Military families needed that money. So twice, GIs were threatening to "strike", which is totally illegal for military members to do. The Peanut Farmer signed off. We got paid. Never did we not get paid, eventually.
In my Navy daze in the early 80s, under Uncle Ronnie, we never had that happen. One year, he even gave military members a 14% raise, totally unprecedented. Shortly after, as I was residing offbase with a shipmate, we had a gal coming door to door, trying to get signatures for some silly petition against Ronnie. We Squids let her know real quick, not only did we support Reagan, we'd storm Hell itself and kick the Devil out if Uncle Ronnie ordered it. Sent her packing.
Later as a State IT employee, we never had problems like that, though we did face periodic mass firings. One year, two weeks before Christmas, Jeb laid off a huge number of state employees. We in DOE (Education) lost over 300 people, and we never recovered from it. It is still known there as "Black Friday", and a big reason I could never support Jeb in his Presidential bid. His performance at state level would be disastrous at federal level.

 

[SoulRaven]

Gosh, if this happens they will never straighten out our social security payments. Their "system" made an error and stopped all of our benefits, 3 checks to our house. No warning, they just stopped them and wrote us that my husband was going to make too much money although he had just filed in November and told them he quit his job. So, after 4 months, because they have to correct their mistake, it still isn't fixed and if not for our contacting several agencies, we would have gotten no income from SS for 4 months. I am told "There is hiring freeze." which has slowed the workflow and that our issue, is not that uncommon. No sympathy from me, I worked for the federal govt for 8 years and we made do and got the job done.

They all play games in the government, luckily people are waking up and taking a stand on it now.

 

[TrainChaser]

SnowGypsy, it could be worse. One of my neighbors stopped getting his SS check (in the mail in those days). When he called, he was informed that he was dead. He told them that he hadn't gotten the memo. Took some effort and time to get it ironed out. All that trouble for a one-digit typo.