Nearly 1/3 of federal workers would be furloughed. these folks don’t get paid during this time.
Essential people will not be furloughed nor will the active duty military personnel nor will postal workers.
However, here is an abbreviated list of what will be shut down as per NBC News:
1. Trash pick up and parking enforcement in D.C. (and other federal buildings)
2. D.C. DMV will close.
3. Daycare facilities, especially those for federal employees will lose money.
4. All Smithsonian Museums and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo would close to the public.
5. All national parks, battlefields, cemeteries and national monuments will shut down including those in DC.
6. Passport services would close down. Get your paper work in now.
7. Social Security and medicare payments will be sent but may be delayed because of lack of personnel. New applications will be delayed.
8. D. C. public libraries will close.
9. building inspections and permits will halt.
10. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will close for permits. Bootlegging should be at an all time high.
Will these closures hurt you? It depends on what you do. Government shutdown is just unsetting to everyone. Many folks will go without pay. Tourists will be locked out of most things that they have come here to see. Vendors and shopkeepers will lose money. Trash will be a huge problem. The nation’s capital will probably be overrun with rats which spread disease. Garbage will line our parks. It doesn’t sound like a pretty sight.
Americans deserve better than this. Shame on the House of Representatives.
The constant planning for a shutdown adds a real cost to many areas. It is not like one just shuts off the lights and all is ok. There is a significant amount of planning and identifying the programs and people that are critical. This takes time away from real efforts and actually wastes significant amounts of time and money.
Why didn’t the budget go to conference? It was a 2012 Presidential campaign issue that the Senate create a budget – they did – and the R’s have prevented the Budget from going to conference. Maybe we would have a budget if they did that – and it all points to Congress just wanting to grand stand and make much noise instead of trying to fix issues.