The list of collateral effects of a potential government shutdown keeps growing and people are none too pleased about it. Here are just a few of the negative impacts that could arise if Congress and the White House fail to reach an agreement on the budget (click here to view in chart form):
- The lawmakers who hold the cards will still get paid. Their staffers might be furloughed, though. That has prompted a few lawmakers to announce they'll refuse shutdown pay,but even that has elicited critiques of political posturing.
- Roughly 800,000 federal workers won't get paid because they're considered nonessential and therefore, the first to be furloughed. That includes people who work in national parks because they'll be closed, ruining countless long family road trips. And it's not just the loss of income that hurts – for many, it's being labeled dispensable when they know their jobs are anything but nonessential.
- As the shutdown looms, some political leaders are taking the opportunity to fundraise and rally their supporters. The executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent out an appeal asking for a minimum $5 donation saying the organization wants to raise $100,000 in the next 36 hours.
- You'll still get your Social Security checks but don't expect anyone to be around to answer your questions about benefits. The people who take questions on Social Security and Medicare questions will not be at work and most government websites will shut down or have limited functionality.
- Various agencies with the Department of Health and Human Services will operate in a patchwork fashion. The National Institutes of Health will not accept new patients or start new clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration won't operate at full capacity but will have some inspectors on staff. As a result, all FDA inspections of food processing facilities and drug manufacturing plants will be prioritized by risk.
- Word is getting around that a government shutdown doesn't actually save taxpayers money. For one, it will cost the government money to ensure a smooth transition to a shutdown. Then there's the lost revenue from a variety of sources, from government services to gift shops in government-run attractions such as Yosemite National Park and DC's National Gallery of Art.
How would a government shutdown anger you?
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Notice how the article mentions taking your trash to Boehner's house, and a site to give money to the Dems. How typical. If saving our grandchildren from a Great Depression II means that we have these minor interuptions, I'm all for it. Shut the whole dang thing down until you come back with a budget that spends at least 1 dollar less than what is taken in.
Reality...so what about the taxs cuts for the rich? what about the trillions that big corporations keep overseas so they dont have to pay taxes? Yet you will let a hardworking park ranger, contractor, or health service provider to the military suffer because of your misplaced ideology I guess you must have it so good that you support a govt shutdown. What reality do you live in? Since when are the average people who are the backbone of govt the enemy?
I do not want my tax dollar to pay for abortions...do you think I have a voice in what the 'deal' working is. Neither does the unborn child. I am sick of being sick of this government...they are childish and immature...all they want to do is play and spend...
Some military live paycheck to paycheck which receiving late checks will cause a real burden, especially if they have children. Maybe the ones who will continue to get paid should go over and replace the ones that won't, and we all know who will continue to get paid.
I'm a civilian contractor for the government out of fort hood doing general construction. We have built three million dollars worth of pt tracks and obstacle courses in the last four months, for moral boost for our soldiers. It makes me wonder did they wake up one morning a couple days ago and say screw all these people that are and have been serving our country, or has this been in the making for a while? If so why the hell am I wasting money we don't have in the first place on a Damn play grounds?
Congress continues to receive their pay while our military does not? Send our Congress to the Middle East and bring our troops home. Put Republicans and Democrats on the front line. Let them earn their pay from tax payer money. None of them are earning their pay in the halls of Congress. They would rather be seen on every cable news station pointing fingers at each other. Send them all to the battlefield.
i want to know how it will affect the minimum wage for teenager. i heard it was supposed to go down.
Let the us government shut down it goes to show the american people what the people elected are all about nothing all they care about is themselfs and screw the hard working individule and there so call important job.
If all these jobs are "non-essential" why do we have them in the first place??
i can think of 10 BILLION things that ruin my days when the governments running.
Uhhh...let me ead this right. 800,000 non-essential employees. And we are continuing to pay these folks, pay medical benefits and ensure any shortfall in their wages will be picked up. Smells like a lot of people doing nothing and getting paid for it. Take a lesson from the private sector. Get rid of them...permanently. And then shut down the public parks first. This always works to demonstrate how serious are government is and continually looking for ways to stick it to the taxpayer in the easiest way. Cut the clowning around and posturing and balance the damn budget and work with a balanced budget. Millions of Americans have too, why can't local, city, state and federal officials. It's too easy to cry poor and raise taxes.
The fact that the card holders still get paid while everyone else is Hung out to dry! Why not let them feel the pinch? Let our congress know what it feels like to have to choose between food family and shelter. Take their massive pay check and distribute funds to those who they will be taking from! I like that I read.... its like watching Larry, Curly, and Now butt heads over a cigar... or fighting in the back seat with no one driving.... imagine the outcome...
I agree. If our so called cherished lawmakers know that they will not be getting a paycheck, the goverment might be more apt to agree on a solution. I say kudos to those lawmakers who say they will not accept a paycheck during a shutdown. Let's see which of out lawmakers truly care about the American people!
YES! Well said!
So very true! I'd be far more apt to let my place of work shut down if I knew I would be getting pay for my entire "vacation". I bet you the second talk of their pay getting cut hit the table, they would agree on a budget almost instantly. Leave it to those fat cats to step all over the little mice.
Because they are high enough up on the food chain that there's no authority to "make" them give up their paycheck. That's why they still get paid.
*Who* is going to implement the change such that the cardholders don't get paid? Try convincing anybody that they have the authority to do it....and then try convincing everyone else that that person does have the authority.
You see the problem?
The only thing that slightly concerns me about that is how it will effect the few members of Congress who aren't multi-millionaires, and who may not have any influence over whether or not a deal is made. Maybe we should just do what was proposed in Wisconsin – if Boehner and Reid can't reach an agreement, they'll each be fined a certain amount for every day the government is shut down. Maybe that will convince them to each get their caucuses in line.
Dont you know who your politicians are? They dont have a "massive" paycheck from government work, all of them are already VERY rich from other things, thats how they were able to get in power in the first place since running a campaign for things like the senate is extremely expensive and requires a lot of partners in high places. They will not be feeling a pinch if they dont get paid, they have millions of dollars coming in from other sources.
So this is Bush's fault now? Number one, you're naive if you think both sides are anything but self serving. Number two, do you know how much the deficit has increased since Obama took office?
That shutdown worries me a lot less than the environmental crisis going on right now. I think we can help the financial crisis the most via John Boehner's paycheck. Senators are in the millionaire club. He won't miss his wages. I doubt that any of them would. Since he is so bent on cutting wages of the poor, I am sure he won't mind cutting out his wages completely for a while. That would save us a lot.
Disappointed? It shold be "confused" Bush didn't create the deficit. Where are you from? The national deficit began with Johnson. Hell, he was the one who signed the bill allowing social security withholdings to dump into the general fund which started the trend we are accustomed to today...hiding in the sand reying on OUR DEAR LEADER to care for us.
"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."
For everyone who is saying that congress won't be taking their budget cuts.. even if they did, it shouldn't matter for the next years, should it..? 27th Amendment.
Don't feel to sorry for government workers, they will just be taking a paid vacation. Of course they might not get their pay for a week or two, but they will get paid none the less. They were paid the last time the government shut down.
I also wonder why things that make money have to shut down, that makes no sense to me.
Bush created the deficit?!? Bush had a Democratic Congress that decided on spending and budget you imbecile!!!
Families will not be taking long road trip on vacations.
I'd bet if everyone in the white house, congress, etc. weren't getting paid like the "nonessential" people, they'd make that decision a lot faster and avoid the whole shutdown altogether.
You people still don't get it. Congresspersons are the wealthy; they don't live from one paycheck to the next like most Americans. Withholding their pay will only be symbolic.
The answer is for the Democrats to stop the political posturing and compromise on a budget. Holding America hostage for a few radical programs is just plain wrong!
My husband doesn't get paid every time he can't work because of cancer treatment. Disability pay only kicks in if he is off for two weeks. But what the Repubs are doing is taking well people and forcing them to spend their rainy-day money. The Dems have already compromised. "If they can do this in a green tree, imagine what they will do in a dry."
I believe that President Obama needs to include ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER in these budget meetings.
YOU are an idiot. Why is there always someone in the crowd that has nothing to say and says it anyway?
A poster named Laura hit the nail right on the head. Stat at the TOP and let those holding the cards take the first hit for the team!!! Mr Speaker? YOU will not get a check while this issue is in limbo!
Of all my possible responses, emotional or otherwise, why is an angry response the only kind you elicit? Is that the only kind you can hear, the only kind you, CNN, will allow? I strongly believe and assert that there are some very fundamental and dynamic changes going on in the USA and the world. I also believe that this democratic process called government is the best way to deal with these developments. There are some changes coming.
Ridiculous. Congress is doing more harm to us than the Islamic Terrorist movement. They're out for themselves. It must be comforting to be so out of touch with reality.
by the way we are not a democracy. Corporations rule
Last time I checked, congress didn't murder over 3,000 people...
in a way they do
Yeah, they've only authorized the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Corporations rule because you vote for the same bimbo every election because they wear the "right" party colors. This gives your congressperson the ability to "sell" your vote because they know you will always vote for them.
Stop being the village stooge or dupe!
To the person who said that Congress didn't kill 3000 people: Yes, they will. Parole officers will not be watching people out on parole. Borders aren't going to be watched (yes, that's part of what those "non-essential" park rangers do). And you won't be able to get a passport to get out. Of course, the Repubs already have passports, and their 2nd, 3rd, etc. homes in other countries, because they have no loyalty here.
how come everytime there are problems in this so called united states of corrupt america we the people seem to
always get screwed .why should the a holes that put all of us in this position get their salaries
they sure as hell definetly don't deserve it
It's unacceptable that these politicians who've failed to negotiate and come to terms will still get paid. That's my biggest grievance.
Because we keep voting to get screwed over and over again. Why are we thinking about cutting our OWN medicare insurance, guaranteeing that most of us will be without much medical care when we get old? Why are we always against taking the super rich, and instead want to cut the benefits on public school teachers who have to work part time in the summer to make ends meet? We almost deserve this. We surely voted for it.
I meant to say TAXING the super rich. We're also against taxing mega companies that make zillions in profits, but happy to stick it to the small business people. Anyone who is middle class AND a conservative Republican is a self-hating idiot.
I agree; what I don't understand is that, in this Country "we, the people" are supposedly in charge. When I hear stuff like this, however, I am wondering if I should realize an ugly reality: we are only lemings and we are being lead over the cliff. If we, the people, have the power, how come we, the people, are mostly in agreement that these "leaders" need to take pay cuts and lead us in another direction, yet, they do not hear a single word we say. This is unbelievable.
@ Sasha – Exactly! Lemmings over a cliff! That is the perfect analogy! Everyone needs to stop and ask themselves, Am I a lemming??
@Sue, @Sasha, you guys display the epitome of idiocy. WE **ARE** in charge! Don't you remember going to the polls last November??????
If we were not in charge, there would be no polls, and you would not be able to pick up a phone and talk to your representative (or his/her department).
You would have police telling you everything you need to know to survive. Please think before you post.
BldrRepublican: At one time "We the People" were in charge. For years the majority were drinking the Kool-Aid, now some of stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and are trying to put "We the People" back in charge. Hence results of the elections over the last 2-3 years.
We the people are not in charge. Sure we can vote, but where do you find out about candidates? Advertisements paid for by billionaire companies? TV stations that are NOT left-leaning, but owned by one or two very right-wing billionaires, and which take advertisements from right-wing billionaires who won't allow any investigations into their schemes? Just think about G.E. not paying taxes; 2/3 of its profits were from overseas; they have no interest in, nor loyalty to, the United States of America. I'm tired of the Repubs saying that they are just little 'ol folks like us; they dress in flannel shirts, that's about it.
Bring the troops home. It would be a cost effective solution.
They still wouldn't get paid even at home.
Well Linda, at least tehy wouldn't be risking their lifes for nothing. If you think they should fight for free then please feel free to go to Iraq and take one of their places for ZERO pay.
Troops are not payed during shutdown 'why should deadhead lawmakers get paid . That's right they made the law.Think troops need to take action on the one's in D.C.
Who will pay for getting them home?
I agree bring home the troops!! I look at the idiots in D.C. and as myself. "This is what my husband is fighting for?"
I don't often comment on articles, but this whole topic has me rather agitated. Let it be known, I have no current or upcoming dependencies on the federal government. I suspect a government shutdown would have little, to no, effect on my daily lifestyle.
We are not pawns of gluttonous, self serving leaders. We are the enablers. We, the American people, vote for those who we end up despising so much. Maybe you didn't vote for the villain for the day, but a fellow patriot did and that's why they are in office. The public does this to themselves. Until we learn that elections don't need to be so black and white, Democrat or Republican, neoconservative or ultra-liberal, things will never change.
So what do we do to change America?
1. Educate yourselves – Don't be swindled
2. A vote cast for an unlikely candidate is not a vote thrown away