Here's the truth about a government "shutdown." The government doesn't shut down.
So the world won't end if a dysfunctional Washington can't find a way to pass a funding bill before the new budget year begins on Oct. 1.
Social Security checks will still go out. Troops will remain at their posts. Doctors and hospitals will get their Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. In fact, virtually every essential government agency, like the FBI, the Border Patrol and the Coast Guard, will remain open. Furloughed federal workers probably would get paid, eventually. Transportation Security Administration officers would continue to man airport checkpoints.
But lurking around the corner is far bigger danger: Sometime in late October or early November the government could run out of cash. The U.S. would be unable to pay all of its bills in full and on time for the first time in history if it couldn't borrow more money.
While the Treasury Department probably would make interest payments to bondholders to prevent a catastrophic default on the debt, it wouldn't be able to make other payments on time, which would mean delays in Social Security benefits and in paychecks for federal workers and troops in the field.
Americans would feel the pain.
To prevent a "shutdown," Congress must pass a temporary spending bill before Oct. 1. To prevent a default, it must raise the $16.7 trillion cap on government borrowing.
Averting a shutdown is supposed to be easy. There hasn't been one since the 1995-96 battle in which President Bill Clinton bested Newt Gingrich and his band of budget-slashing conservatives. This time, the conservatives want to hold government-funding hostage in order to derail the implementation of President Barack Obama's law to make people buy health insurance. GOP leaders want to avoid a shutdown and are trying to finesse a solution.
Raising the debt limit is typically more difficult, but it has always been done because the possible consequences of default are so dire: upheaval in financial markets, a spike in U.S. borrowing costs and a host of delayed payments to both individual Americans and businesses. Under current estimates, the "X date" by which the government can't meet all of its payments would come in the latter half of October or early November. So Congress needs to act by mid-October to be safe.
In the separate case of a shutdown, fewer than half of the 2.1 million federal workers subject to it would be forced off the job if the Obama administration follows the rules followed by previous Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Clinton. That's not counting about 500,000 Postal Service employees or 1.4 million uniformed military personnel who would be exempt.The rules for who works and who doesn't date back to the early 1980s and haven't been significantly modified since. The Obama administration re-issued the guidance on Wednesday.The air traffic control system, food inspection, Medicare, veterans' health care and many other essential government programs would run as usual. The Social Security Administration would not only send out benefits but would continue to take applications. The Postal Service, which is self-funded, would keep delivering the mail. The Federal Emergency Management Agency could continue to respond to disasters at the height of hurricane season.
http://news.yahoo.com/heres-truth-government-doesnt-shut-down-155624428--politics.html
