There are a lot of headlines out there about the government shutdown. Here are some things you need to know.
- A Continuing Resolution is just a date change, paying for a previous budget on a continuing basis until another budget is passed. The CR in question this time is just a continuation of paying for the previous Biden budget – which was fully supported by Democrats.
- Democrats do not want to give Republicans a win, so even though this would just be a continuation of the Biden Budget, they refuse to vote for it. The House, where the vote just needs to be a simple majority, has already passed the CR (and, by the way, if you are in the 3rd Congressional District, please note that Marie Gluesenkamp Perez didn’t even bother to vote on the measure). The Senate has to vote on it, as well, but this bill requires a 60-vote majority, meaning we need 6 Democrats to vote yes. I believe that Sen. Fetterman is the only Democrat willing to vote yes so far.
- Democrats have offered some options to get their votes. One is to pay for healthcare for people here illegally, something that ended with the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill. The other thing they want is the removal of work requirements for Medicaid, another BBB policy change. Along with that would be the repeal of the $50 billion for rural hospitals, so if you live in a rural area, this is a terrible goal. These issues are non-starters for Republicans, but that was well-known before the offer was even made. Democrats purposely offered policies that were unacceptable. They didn’t want an agreement.
- That is where we stand right now. Of course, Democrats and the media will tell us that it’s the Republicans’ fault, as usual, but now you know the truth. Democrats are refusing to pay for the Biden Budget and are demanding more free healthcare with no strings to everyone including people here illegally.
- There is also much hype about 100,000 federal employees offering their resignations today, as if this is a surprise. It is not a surprise, and the number is closer to 150,000, which is only about 7% of the entire federal payroll (not including the military). These people all took the early retirement option offered to them months ago. The reason the hype is out there right now is that the retirement date is the end of the fiscal year. So their retirement would begin on Oct. 1st. This doesn’t surprise anyone, because they filled out their retirement papers months ago. But the media will once again hype something to make the Republicans look bad. Don’t fall for it.
The government shutdown has been threatened and has happened before, and the threat looms multiple times a year and has for decades. It’s a sign of disfunction in Congress. It’s a political football that is used by Democrats to pressure the other side into creating more government programs, while the Republicans try to trim government waste, increase efficiency, and reduce personnel costs, which are the most expensive part of any organization.It will be interesting to see what closes and what inconveniences we have to deal with. Usually, they make it incredibly painful for the most people, so the deadlock ends quickly. One thing that will likely happen is economic volatility, because the U.S. reneging on its bill payments is a big deal. While I have no idea how this will end, at least now you know what is happening. You sure won’t get it from the media.
