Thread: Federal government shutdown possible

WASHINGTON - A dispute between the House and Senate over money for disaster relief is threatening a short-term bill to finance the government after Sept. 30, raising the prospect of a government shutdown.

While a plan to keep the government running well into November was expected to attract far less controversy than the measure that nearly led to a shutdown last spring, Democrats and Republicans have divergent views on how much money should go to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and whether those dollars should be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.

Setting up a showdown with the Senate, the House on Wednesday is set to pass the short-term spending measure, which will include $3.65 billion for disaster aid. The stop-gap bill is needed because Congress has not passed any of the 12 annual spending bills due by Oct. 1
Federal government shutdown possible over aid dispute | StarTribune.com

Let me be clear, this is only a problem because the Democrat led Senate has still not passed a 2012 budget, which they were supposed to do months ago. So weve been living on half measure continuing resolutions since Obama got elected (blank checks)

I love it when the seasons change: Temperatures rise and fall, leaves bud, thrive, then turn colors and fall, wardrobes change ... and a new threat that the government might shut down arises.

Warms my soul.

Originally Posted by jviehe

Let me be clear, this is only a problem because the Democrat led Senate has still not passed a 2012 budget, which they were supposed to do months ago. So weve been living on half measure continuing resolutions since Obama got elected (blank checks)

If they passed a complete budget the political opposition could use it against the Great-O and the Democrats. They can pass off blank checks and half measure onto uncooperative Republicans and those amazingly powerful Tea-partiers.

It is true that this is because the Democrats have never proposed, much less passed, a budget. That is indisputable.

That being said, I don't know why anyone cares when the threat of a government shutdown occurs. Someone tell me how your life is affected in any way. Government shutdowns are awesome. The only problem with government shutdowns is that when the government reopens they go "hey, let's pay everyone for all the time they weren't working!" The shutdowns demonstrate how useless the bureaucracies and departments are. By the way, I'm being serious: we've had government shutdowns before. Someone tell me how your life was devastated during that time.

I assume there are legitimate services that might suffer. But my understanding is spending is prioritized to critical needs, so I will be fine. The govt takes in more than enough money every month to pay constitutional duties.

Well, everyone says "I'm sure the government does something ..." but they can never say what. Like you say "I assume there are legitimate services ..." But step back and think about how hilarious that is. The government spends several trillion dollars a year. And we're like "uh, I assume there are legitimate services ..." That's a bit odd, isn't it? Pretty much all people name are welfare programs, which includes Social Security. It's always like "well, I get money from them (which is not really from the government, but that's another issue)." But what does the government actually do? They have lots of offices, lots of employees, lots of red tape. But not much in the action department.

Originally Posted by jviehe

Let me be clear, this is only a problem because the Democrat led Senate has still not passed a 2012 budget, which they were supposed to do months ago. So weve been living on half measure continuing resolutions since Obama got elected (blank checks)

100% correct.

Left unclear is just how posters here are going to blame Republicans in general and the Tea Party folks in particular, for all this.

Originally Posted by tsquare

100% correct.

Left unclear is just how posters here are going to blame Republicans in general and the Tea Party folks in particular, for all this.

I don't see how they could, but you know, they are a creative bunch. I'm sure that they'll come up with some contorted logic for this.

Originally Posted by C-B-M

Well, everyone says "I'm sure the government does something ..." but they can never say what. Like you say "I assume there are legitimate services ..." But step back and think about how hilarious that is. The government spends several trillion dollars a year. And we're like "uh, I assume there are legitimate services ..." That's a bit odd, isn't it? Pretty much all people name are welfare programs, which includes Social Security. It's always like "well, I get money from them (which is not really from the government, but that's another issue)." But what does the government actually do? They have lots of offices, lots of employees, lots of red tape. But not much in the action department.

Well for example, the national parks would be closed. No, that wont affect me, but its probably a legitimate service that citizens consent to paying for.

Yeah, but the parks are only closed arbitarily. Like, parks are natural land. There's no reason to close them. It's like you have a forest in your backyard and it's "closed." What's that mean?