I have not look to see if this is even a question. I was so still in elementry school/ junior high school. I do not remember or even know why it shut down. No one has really explained it unless it is on sided. Why do they shut down? I thought these people were elected to run the country? Is a shut down congress throwing up their hands saying we dont know how to get along so we will go on vacation until one of the sides is in a better mood to negotate? How is that fair? we are in the worst economic crsis I have seen in my life, yet we will put people out of a paycheck because they dont know how to get along?? Do they have to keep working while they are shut down or is this another excuse for a lonnnng vacation this summer? I just want to fully understand the big picture. No, party backing answers. I see on tv what they are fighting over. I am not going to say if i agree one way or the other. I was just looking for insight on the inpending shut down and what happens to the regular people who have kids to feed and house payments to make..what happens to those americans?? we let more homes go into forclosure because families that had working people are not working. I just dont see how either side can be ok with a shut down given the state of our union. Please give me insight!!
Again I dont want a party opinion. I jam am confused on the facts. Right now we dont need to come together here divided. We need to be here for those who will be effected by this. So be nice. I know I cant be the only one who doesnt understand. I always thought of myself as polictally informed but i have seemed to get lost in this one.
Thank you for the web links too...very helpful!!!
If you are or a familiy memeber is in our armed services .. I pray for a finish to this. How unfair is it that you are in our harms way for us and you and yours will not be getting pay. HOW DARE THEY!! I am appalled and somewhat ashamed that our gov'ment can not function..solely for the purpose of our armed service men and women.. We put our troops out there...how can we not pay them. So they can just walk off the base..where ever they are stationed..and come home right??? So if they are in I raq right now, they cnan go to their officers and say..''ok, my country is taking a vacation from polictics, I am going to go home and see my kids. I'll be back when my pay is reinstated''. I know they cant do this but I wouldnt blame them for trying.
Dont think you sound bitter. You have every right at the moment to sound bitter. I think the ones and only who can make an bitter argument right now are the families again that have memebers not getting paid while they still have to do there job. I think that the cronies and our leader should all take one for the team so to speak and let the everyday familes have their salaries. ok my two cents either way have been thrown in...
My anger toward this is justified then. I am not directly affected by the shut down but my prayers, that it does not happen are already in the air above me. For all the people who will be hurt in the mean time, while or good ole' gov'ment figure out what they need to do My heart goes out to you. I hope there is a swift recovery from this and they shut down only for the time they need to.
I realize there is nothing one way or the other decided about this. I hope that again we can band together to at least be support for those who are directly or indirectly affected by this. We all did our part to elect whoever is in office. Whether it be who you voted for or not. Again this is not now a party situation. It is a situation where those who have been appointed to speak for us are not willing to meet in the middle. Right now this is not a functioning democracy( or in their eye this is what afuunctioning gov does when they can not get their jobs done). It wont be until they get this crap figure out.
It means that on the LES (like a paystub but for the military) we just received for the payday on the 15th that they already cut pay in half...
way to go washington
This can help explain it:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42446224/ns/politics-the_new_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdown
My husband is in the military and so we are included in the impending shut down. This is what I know about it.
Congress was supposed to pass the national budget in October 2010, but they have only been able to agree on temporary budgets until now. Now they cannot even agree on that, so the current budget runs out at midnight tonight. It does not mean that the money status has changed it just means that it is just not being passed out. This budget covers things like, military funding, Penetagon funding, FBI funding, government loans and grants, federal courts and federal roads, national college funding and other federal programs.
All non-essential government personnel will go on forlough (unpaid leave) until the budget is approved. State govenment will still be operational, services like police and fire will still be funded. Air Traffic controllers will be funded, (but not the admin side) and a few other essential services.
Most people on forlough will just be on unpaid leave until things are fixed, but the military is required to still attend work without pay. Just one of the perks of defending our country I guess.
As far as help for those effected there is not a national plan for it. I know that the military is cancelling all training and working to help their own, but the is little they can do without funding. California has been implementing forloughs in their govenment for quite a while now and so it is just something people will have to struggle though.
I have talked with our military bank (USAA) and they have a plan to help their clients if the forlough happens, but I would be surprised if companies like BofA care enough to do the same.
Do not worry about the fine people in Washington though, this forlough will not effect their pay, so they can continue to work their magic on our economy. The President, Congress and the Senate are at the top of the food chain so their salaries come out first. They will still be working, it is just the workers bees that will take the hit.
EDIT: I just reread this and wow I sound bitter... Oh well, life will go on. It always does. =)
No budget, no money so things shut down. Can't run anything without money. Oh but the Pres and his cronies will be paid. Our wonderful military
who defend our country will be screwed. How sad that they dare treat
these men and women and their families this way. So for anyone reading
this who is in the military a sincere thank you and God Bless you .
From what I understand with a government shut down the only people who report to work are the necessary ones. So John from payroll won't be there, but Bill from Homeland Security will be there. The people who help keep us safe or try too will be the only ones reporting to work. With that being said the people who issue refund tax refund checks are necessary so it may delay many people who are suppose to get a refund.
Edit to Marci: I know the elected officials will continue to work, but I think we should take away some of their pay and benefits and make them suffer like the common people will. Sorry I would rather see the people behind the guns fighting for my freedom get paid before Joe Blow sitting behind the desk spending all of the money. Just saying.
You got great answers...and personally, I think YOU are right on target...a bunch of children with their panties in a bunch saying, "Screw you guys, I'm going home!" and taking the ball with them.
YES, I AM bitter. My husband is in Afghanistan, risking his life, while I'm home with the kids. We will only receive half our pay on the 15th and nothing from then on until an agreement is settled. Oh...he WILL get backpaid...but God only knows when. Unfortunately, the mortgage/rent/utilities companies don't give 2 hoots that there is no money coming in to pay bills. Now, we'll be fine as a family...we live comfortably, we have emergency savings to pay the bills, but this is BS. There are many families of servicemembers who are barely making it paycheck to paycheck. It makes me SICK that these folks will be standing in lines for soup kitchens while their spouse is in a warzone, and could possibly be wounded or killed while UNPAID, with family credit being ruined, homes lost, and children hungry...while the bigwigs on Cap. Hill are still getting their full pay and happily "recessing" at 3:30pm and the Obamas go on vacation this weekend (YES, you read that correctly). Something is VERY wrong with this picture.
Thanks for listening to me vent.
Oh and to a PP re: "We elect them"...it's true. But it's also true that our choice of having to elect "The lesser of the evils" who do not represent us as a country...they just do what they want regardless of public opinion...just shows that we DO NOT live in a democracy.
Just wanted to clarify a point... The members of our U.S. Congress (U.S. House and U.S. Senate) are guaranteed payment of their salaries via Article 1, Section 6 of the Constitution of the United States. They will be paid NO MATTER WHAT! Even if a Rep/Senator says "Don't pay me!!" s/he will be paid by law. The only way to change this is to change the Constitution. You can do this by becoming politially active, lobbying your representatives, gathering support for your point of view and telling your leaders what you want them to do. Remember -- we elect them!
I honestly believe that one side is politically motivated and the other side is doing what the people of America voted them into office to do and that was to cut spending. Yes, it is pathetic that one side cares more about polls than doing what is right. This budget should have been passed last year. The party in control decided not to because of politics and polls. They knew that America would be furious about the spending and they would have lost more seats than they did. Now they want everyone to blame the other side.
We are $14,000,000,000,000 in debt. That's a FACT and it needs to be cut!!
I just want to know if we can stop paying taxes, since they don't know how to budget our money!
It means that the last budget ran out, and Congress has not yet agreed on a new one. If the last one runs out, federal employees can't work, because they can't get paid. So, Congress has to agree on a new budget before they can return to work.
Anyone trying to blame one side or another isn't looking at the facts or is trying to manipulate them. Yes, the Dems should have passed this budget a long time ago when they had the majority so they're at fault. The Repubs are demanding way too many cuts AND tacking on all this social issue stuff that doesn't belong in this fight at all. The bottom line is that nearly ALL the elected officials on both sides have totally lost touch with the middle class average American. Nearly all of them are in the top 1% most wealthy Americans. This means they have nets worths of many MILLIONS of dollars. They do not need the salary they will receive even if the government shuts down, it's pocket change to them. They could never earn another penny and live very well off passive interest income. A few months ago they all voted to extend the Bush era tax cuts to the super wealthy, themselves. Think we could use that money now? Maybe it would save some of these programs designed to help the millions of struggling Americans out there right now who cannot feed their kids or pay their mortgage. And for those of you who think we shouldn't have programs that offer moms, kids, old people and families help or that we shouldn't put all we have into education for our future consider this...There is not one single person on this site that would qualify as a super rich top 1% percenter but there are probably hundreds here that need many of those programs just to survive and all of us need a strong educated middle class. That budget their arguing about, thats OUR money, why don't we vote people in that will spend it on making OUR lives better? Sorry to rant but I fear the good old USA has run itself so far into a ditch we may never get back!
We are also affected by this. My husband is a contract worker for the Navy. He is a chiropractor, and when he told one service member that they might have to cancel her appt next week, she cried. Apparently she was in a huge amount of pain and he was the only Dr. she had seen that had been able to help. So now the poor thing won't have a paycheck and all the progress she has made might be lost. Honestly, right now we have no clue what will happen. He has been told so many different things that he finally stopped asking. I can tell you that we are a single income family so this will destroy us financially. Here's the great thing too, he was told he can't find work elsewhere while they are not paying him! Isn't that fun?
Some people may have to work. Some people may not. Some people may have to work only on certain tasks and be legally required not to work on anything else. Museums, the zoo, trash pickup for DC and the Cherry Blossom parade may all be shut down. People who work may not be paid for the time they work for many months. Friend is a military spouse and she says they were told it may not be til October - which is the NEXT fiscal year.
However, YOU are still required to submit your taxes on time, even if the IRS can't process them. Go figure. And while the TSA says, "Well, you don't NEED to fly" somehow they are deemed too essential not to work and force the airlines to shut down.
I don't fully understand all the fighting, either. There are big budget disagreements, and I get that neither side wants to pass a budget they don't like but I also think there's a lot of stupid posturing that needs to stop. I think that maybe Congress needs to not be paid for every hour they furlough others and put the everyday person in a bind and NOT get that money back.
Many non essential services will not be available. New social security applications may not be processed. The Post Office and Federal Reserve ae both self sufficient and not direclty funded by the gov't so will be open, which means post offices, mail delivery and banking will still be available. Unemployment receives funding from th efed but actual receipt for those unemployed depends on how much money the state has to distribute. It all depends on how long it lasts. I found a few answers on the following link.
http://olver.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&v...
It means that all the non-essential things like IRS employees and all the federal employees that work on military bases, but are not military and aren't essential for safety and security reasons are put on furlough-they cannot go to work and may or may not receive retro active pay for the time they didn't work.
Some members of congress will work, some will not, same with the white house, post office, any government office or organization.
This is happening because in short...both sides cannot and will not agree on a budget and this is an obvious and and strategic political move to make a statement, good , bad, or indifferent.
Congress cannot agree to a budget. Without a budget in place, many of the govt offices are not allowed to remain open. Essential personnel do continue working (some IRS, social security, etc.) National parks, museums, etc. do not. Those employees cannot be paid. This doesn't mean that elected officials get "vacation time." They will continue to work on reaching an agreement for a budget. If they didn't, eventually they wouldn't get paid either and we all know they won't allow that to happen!
my husband has a federal job. He actually just started this job in January when we moved from CA all the way to Virginia for this job. He is away at police acadamy out of state right now and I am home with the kids. He has been gone since Feb. and wasn't supposed to be back until Mid May. But, he might be coming home on Monday and then have to go back once the shut down is over. He will be loosing pay and yes, he was told he can not find another job during this unless he quits. I do work VERY part time as a childrens photographer, but I don't make even nearly enough money to pay bills. Maybe just enough to cover food and gas for the month and that's it. We also took about a 50% pay cut for this job here because there is more room to grow than his old job and will someday be making more than he did in CA, but we have to work up to it. So, right now, this is a killer for us. We are also paying student loans and will not be able to pay it if he doesn't get a paycheck. So I am REALLY hoping this doesn't last very long. We are also former military (my husband was a marine) and it makes me sick how terribly low the military gets paid and now they are taking it away and making it even harder for those who are still active duty.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow...
I don't know what happens to the lawmakers during a govt shutdown. I do know the military got half their paycheck for the first part of April (pay for 1 instead of 2 weeks before the threatened shutdown) i know it would affect govt workers like military horribly since most lower enlisted don't have extra money in their paycheck.
A budget has to be agreed upon. If not - the money is not approved. No paychecks for government workers. No social security checks. No unemployemnt checks. Troops don't get paid. Post office will be closed. Everyone that recieves a federal check will not recieve that check. Everyone that works for the federal goverment will be locked out of thier job - off with no pay.
This is what I posted on FB:
Dear Congress, Last year I mismanaged my funds and this year I cannot decide on a budget. Until I have come to a unified decision that fits all of my needs and interests, I will have to shut down my checkbook and will no longer be able to pay my taxes. I'm sure you'll understand. Thank you very much for setting an example we can all follow. Repost if you agree
