Federal Shutdown Looming?

Remove all ads!

For a little history, a new federal fiscal year began in October (FY2011). The Democrats never actually proposed a budget for 2011. Instead, they made it through by issuing a couple of Continuing Resolutions (CRs), which basically resolve to continue spending along current trends. The last one expires March 4th, and the Republican budget for 2011 isn't likely to pass any time soon. The Dems in the Senate have promised to vote against it and the President has promised to veto it.

Now, just a week away from that deadline, the budget battle is raging in politics. The Republicans have been warning of a government shutdown akin to 1995. The Democrats have accused the Republicans of wanting a shutdown, of trying to force one. Obama and Reid have recently warned that a federal shutdown would mean no social security checks in the mail, for example.

Here's the problem: political theater isn't always political fact. Don't get me wrong, a federal shutdown would be bad news for everyone, but Social Security would still be sending out checks, and Obama and Reid know it. In 1995, Social Security didn't miss a beat. This is because Social Security is, technically (and factually in '95), self-funding. And it's 'mandatory spending', while a government shutdown would only impact discresionary spending.

What's more, while the Dems are already blaming the Reps for the looming shutdown, the Republican House has already sent a new CR to the Senate to be passed. They passed it at 4:41 AM last Saturday. This would fund the government only for the next month, but provide time to battle out the Republican budget proposal while avoiding a shutdown. So why haven't the Dems in the Senate passed it already? Or at least offered comments? Well, they had already left for vacation. And they don't seem to think it's important enough to come back early for something like this. Now, the vacation had been on the schedule for some time, but these things can cancelled or cut short when a federal shutdown is looming. As it stands, if they stick to schedule (which they likely will at this point), they'll have next week to read, debate, and decide what to do with the CR. They can either pass it as-is and give it to the President, or they can scrap it altogether and tell the House to start over, or they can amend it and send it to be resolved with the House version, which would likely take more time itself.

One week's time is a little short for amendments to be proposed, debated, voted on, sent back to the House, debated, killed, negotiated, modified, etc. and finally approved by both the House and Senate. If the Senate goes this root with the CR, it's basically playing chicken with a federal shutdown on what is already a comprimise-style move. Then again, the last shutdown went pretty well for them in the political spectrum. Clinton successfully blamed it on the Republicans (with some help from Newt Gingrich). This time, though, it'll be hard to portray the Republicans as the bad-guys with them offering a CR to buy more time.

Of course, passage of the CR may just delay things a month.

Given that a shutdown would mean I'm not working, and further that it'd mean I'm not going to get payed (being a contractor, civil servants will get back pay when it's over), I'm paying close attention to this.

 

NOG,

I'm also a federal contractor, and while I don't know what agency you support, chances are it will be business as usual for both of us. As far as our contract is concerned, we are fully funded for the fiscal year, it's in the contract, and just because of a government shut down, we're still going to show up for work. I don't know what your contract looks like, but a lot of this "government shutdown" stuff is a lot of rubbish.

First, you are correct that any mandatory spending still goes on. Furthermore - as I'm sure you're aware, there is a specific way that the government pays it's bills - including pay to contractors. First the money is obligated, and then expended. If the obligations have already been made, the actual expenditures can be made even in the shutdown phase. In more concrete terms, the obligation phase is like writing a check, and the expenditure phase is when you cash it.

 

Are there some US holidays right now, that Congress would get vacation?

 

They get the week off for President's day. All Congressional vacations are one week, and they are frequent. In addition to the week off in February, they get the week following Memorial Day off, the week of the 4th of July off, the week after Labor Day off, an unless there is unresolved legislation, once they go on Thanksigiving Break (last week of November) they don't come back until the new year.

This isn't all government employees - just Congress.

 

Is this a week off? Or a week that they need to spend in their state, visiting their constituencies, sitting on different Congressional boards and committees, attending party planning meetings and other things? I know here, Parliament only sits three days a week (in ordinary circumstances), but the other four days are usually busy with other work matters. It's not like they go on holiday.

 

I'm working on-site at a NASA facility, which means if the facility is closed (and they're preparing to do just that), I don't get in. Which means I don't work. Now, normally, if we're closed for snow or something, I charge the time on the last task I worked. That's how the contract is written. I don't know about this, though. When this happened in '95, the people that were there at the time say they had to take vacation time. I'm guessing that hasn't changed.

Need? No. Technically it's a vacation. Many of them do spend it doing just that, though. Especially the ones up for re-election.

 

So how common is it for members to stay in DC for such vacations? Frankly, I'm not exactly surprised that a bill passed in 4 AM on Saturday before a Congressional vacation isn't discussed immediately. Reminds me of some deadlines in college - if that paper of yours isn't in the professor's room by 12:30 A.M, you might as well not bother. Actually, I wonder if that was purely by accident or it's another instance of political point-scoring ("We passed the bill, those lazy slobs.

 

Frankly, I have no idea where or what the Congressmen do on their weeks off. I'm sure some of them stay in DC. I'm sure some of them take vacations. I'm sure some of them spend time with their familes, and I'm sure some of them visit their constituencies. The point is, I don't think they are obligated to do anything on their weeks off.

You see, the military base I work on will not shut down. And the reports I work on are obligatory to do every month by federal law. And my contract is through the Department of Defense - so perhaps I'm in the mandatory spending group of people.

And even in a worst-case scenario where I'd have to take vacation time, it's not like I don't have it. I've been with my company for about 10 years now, and I have quite a bit of time build up - I have to be in the neighborhood of 300 or so hours.

 

Individuals? I don't know. The whole group staying or coming back early? It requires major events. Like happened at the end of 2010. Congress was supposed to be out from Thanksgiving until the new Congress came in, but there were things the old Congress wanted to finish up. A last-minute CR to prevent a government shutdown would be just the thing. One with a week left of regular session to consider and vote on, not necessarily, but it wouldn't be shocking.