If the Government Shuts Down

What happens if the federal government shuts down due to lack of an appropriation? The Associated Press explains.

Related:

“Looming shutdown raises fundamental question: Can GOP govern?” Damian Paletta and Erica Werner, Washington Post

“Report: Shutdown could cost U.S. economy $6.5 billion a week,” Christopher Matthews, Axios

“More Americans blame Republicans than Democrats for potential government shutdown, Post-ABC poll finds,” Scott Clement, Washington Post

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Trump Budget: Art of the Bad Deal

John Oliver examines Donald Trump’s federal budget plan.

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Whose Sequester Is It, Anyway?

It must be tough for Speaker of the House John Boehner (R, OH-8) to blame the Sequestration meat ax on President Obama when he voted for it. Moreover, the stupid budget deal is the unruly pet idea of that great GOP intellectual Paul Ryan (R, WI-1), Chairman of the House Budget Committee and failed Republican Vice Presidential candidate:

Congress Doesn’t Need Those Paychecks

With great fanfare, the do-nothing Congress passed the “No Budget, No Pay” bill, threatening to withhold congressmen’s paychecks if they don’t pass a budget. But Congress can’t really mess with its own pay. So what happens if a budget doesn’t pass? Paychecks get deposited in an escrow account and members of Congress get paid in full, all at once at the end of the current term.

“But a more significant problem is that most legislators probably couldn’t care less if their pay was withheld indefinitely. As of 2011, the average estimated wealth of members of Congress was $6.5 million in the House and $13.9 million in the Senate. And unlike many of their constituents, they haven’t exactly been struggling through lean times recently. While average American households saw their median net worth drop 39 percent from 2007 to 2010, lawmakers’ rose 5 percent during the same period.”

— “No Pay, No Problem: Why Congress Doesn’t Need Our Money,” Tim Price, Next New Deal

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Is The Post Office Really Broke?

The U.S. Postal Service is broke, right?

No.

John Nichols explains:

“At the behest of the Republican-controlled Congress of the Bush-Cheney era, the USPS has been forced since 2006 to pre-fund future retiree health benefits. As the American Postal Workers Union notes, ‘This mandate is the primary cause of the agency’s financial crisis. No other government agency or private company bears this burden, which costs the USPS approximately $5.5 billion annually.’”

–John Nichols, “The Post Office is Not Broke,” The Nation

USPS is legally obligated to serve every location in the United States at the same uniform rate. That requires the Post Office to hire so many workers that, with 574,000 full-time employees,  it is the second largest civilian employer in the nation.  That’s the size of the insurance pool USPS must pre-fund every year.

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Happy Fiscal New Year

“May old encumbrance be forgot, and never brought to mind . . . .”
– Singer and retired Federal employee Joe Hickerson.

WASHINGTON, DC, October 1 — While some District of Columbia residents celebrate the merciful end of the Nationals’ baseball season, Federal employees throughout the Washington region and across the country observe their traditional holiday, the Fiscal New Year. Fiscal 2010 ended at midnight last night; today is the start of Fiscal Year 2011 (FY 2011 for short).

Fiscal New Year’s Eve in DC is always hectic with shredding, firing, and hiring. Lobbyists pitch in, helping Congressional staffers craft last-minute earmarks to hang from the Continuing Resolution.

McCain Responds to the Budget Proposal

Senator John McCain, speaking for Republicans because Rush Linbaugh was busy, presented his party’s fiscal year 2010 federal budget counter-proposal in words of two letters, all of them spelled “N-O.”