AND Rob Kaplan (Harvard Business School) says the government ALREADY HAS shut down, and this for a number of reasons. One, particularly glaring one though, is that 'while President Obama's budget commission developed proposals to address budget issues, a lame-duck Congress declared a temporary victory by extending all tax cuts (even for the wealthy) as part of a deal applauded by both sides of the aisle that, in effect, simply kicked the can down the road.' Fans of tax cuts for the rich think that tax cuts eventually pay for themselves, even when the facts suggest otherwise. They are unwilling to even discuss the facts that underlie this premise.
Gannett reporter William Theobald learned from his sources exactly what a government shutdown would entail:
- The Internal Revenue Service would continue to process electronically filed returns and provide refunds (and take payments), but would not process paper returns and would not conduct audits.
- The Small Business Administration would not issue small business loans.
- The Federal Housing Administration would not guarantee mortgages. During the 1995 shutdown, 12 percent of mortgages were FHA-guaranteed. Now, 30 percent are.
- The national parks would close, as would the Smithsonian Institution (and the Cherry Blossom Festival parade in Washington would be cancelled).
- There is no hard estimate on the total number of federal employees who would be furloughed, but it would be in the "same vicinity" as when 800,000 people temporarily were laid off.
- The Veterans Administration would remain open because it is on a multi-year appropriations schedule.
- The Environmental Protection Agency would no longer be issuing new permits and would stop work on Environmental Impact Statements, which are required for many transportation projects.
- The Social Security Administration would continue to provide benefits for current recipients. The SSA has not finalized the rest of its plans.While President Obama's budget commission developed proposals to address these issues, a lame-duck Congress declared a temporary victory by extending all tax cuts (even for the wealthy) as part of a deal applauded by both sides of the aisle that, in effect, simply kicked the can down the road.
- Medicare would continue to pay out benefits, at least for the short term. If a shutdown lasted for months, the trust fund would run out of money and payments would stop.
- Department of Defense employees required to stay on the job would continue to earn money, but they would not be paid. A significant number of civilian DOD employees would be furloughed.
- The same general rules apply to the legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, but the OMB official said those two branches make their own plans.
Politics, ideology and questionable theory should not influence this process. When your representatives ask you to re-elect him/her, ask them why they don't take YOUR BEST INTEREST more seriously!!!
Oh yeah, hope you'll check out ANOTHER SHOT by Ray Jozwiak (that's me!)
