11 ms·

As a foreigner the whole government shutdown is a thing of wonder: how does it work exactly? For instance, is there no police anymore? How does Congress stay i

by bambax 9y ago

As a foreigner the whole government shutdown is a thing of wonder: how does it work exactly? For instance, is there no police anymore? How does Congress stay in session during a shutdown? Where does electricity in federal buildings come from if the Federal govt can't pay for it?

toomanybeersies 9y ago
The vast majority of police in the USA are not federal police, only federal government workers, not state government workers, are affected by this. Essential workers, such as military, are still required to turn up to work, they just don't get paid. It's not the US Government would stop wars just because they can't pay their bills. Congress, funnily enough, is actually except from the shutdown and members of congress still get paid, which is a bit perverse in my eyes. As for things like electricity, I assume they just put it all on credit, it's not like the government isn't going to pay the power companies when they finally approve the budget. I usually have a month after my power bill comes in to pay it.
jtokoph 9y ago
It's more of a shutdown on non critical departments, and lots of times there are still skeleton crews for some of them. For example, the postal service is still running. Here is a decent article explaining what is still up and running: https://www.npr.org/2018/01/19/578985305/open-or-closed-heres-what-happens-in-a-partial-government-shutdown https://www.npr.org/2018/01/19/578985305/open-or-closed-here...
- toomanybeersies 9y ago
  The USPS isn't a government department though, it's an independent agency, that generates its own funds separate from the federal budget.
  - ryanmarsh 9y ago
    I had no idea the USPS was a GSE (Government Sponsored Entity) like Fannie Mae (which many believe is a government agency)
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  It's a shutdown in almost all distribution of funds that consequently includes a prohibition on work by non-essential personnel; “department” in the federal government is a very large organization, and a much higher level of organization than the one at which the non-essential vs. essential distinction is made at.
robert_foss 9y ago
I think some groups are exempt. Like congress men. Separately I think that the police aren't on the federal level, the FBI is but they may also be exempt.
pmorici 9y ago
Most police are funded at the local or state government level. The police employed by the federal government still stay on the job they just won’t be paid until the situation is resolved.
lambda 9y ago
One thing to understand about the US is that it is actually a federation of states. Much of the day-to-day work happens at the state or local level, not at the federal level. Police, fire departments, emergency first responders mostly employed at that level, and when the federal government is involved, a lot of it is in doing some coordination between states, setting standards, funding for various programs, and so on. Even things like building interstate highways, which are funded by the federal government, are generally done by allocation to the state governments to actually construct them. However, the military is entirely part of the federal government, as are many other organizations. In the case of not having a budget, the government is required to shut down all functions that are not essential for safety and security. So things like the military, the TSA, and so on can continue to function, but office workers doing jobs like allocating the funding for highway construction are furloughed, put on temporary unpaid leave from their jobs. This is, of course, terrible for the efficient functioning of government; when the impasse is over, they will have to come back to their jobs and try to catch up. Oh, and in the time leading up to the shutdown, many of them would have been busy preparing for the shutdown, documenting which functions would be considered essential and thus able to continue during the shutdown; because the deadline was no surprise, and there had been many temporary funding bills leading up to this point, there was always a pretty high chance that this shutdown would happen. Of course, this inefficiency plays well into the politics of one of the parties, who hold a religious belief that private enterprise is always more efficient than government, and so playing games like this that increase its inefficiency help to sell their case and get government functions sold off to private enterprise, who just so happen, in so many cases, to be some of the largest donors to campaigns of this particular party.
- jmadsen 9y ago
  "Of course, this inefficiency plays well into the politics of one of the parties, who hold a religious belief that private enterprise is always more efficient than government" Which is beyond ironic to anyone who's worked in the corporate world, but I guess that's for another thread. This idea they have that private enterprise naturally evolves toward the most efficient system is laughable.
  - 9y ago
chrisper 9y ago
It's mostly federal services that will close. Like national park etc.
bsimpson 9y ago
This is the thing that blew my mind last time: The shoreline of San Francisco is a national park (donated when the military base here closed). There's a restaurant on the shore called Cliff House, whose landlord is the US government. During the shutdown, the government forced the restaurant, a private establishment, to close. The owners and the kitchen staff were not allowed to make a living. And because they aren't government employees, they don't get any restitution when the government is funded again.
- mcv 9y ago
  Why would a lack of funding for the government suspend a rent agreement? That's actually money flowing into the government. Why does that need to be shut down?
  - bonesss 9y ago
    Without knowing the specifics: renting land from the feds inside a national park is not entirely the same as renting land from a private person in a commercial zone. From a park-management perspective services offered inside a national park close when the park closes. The park-restaurant doesn't get to reopen that park or its services any more than the hotdog vendors force Wrigley Field to open on the weekdays... Just like a mall closing for safety reasons: even though there is a buck to be made there are also liabilities and requirements. If the park isn't offering its rangers/personnel/management/responsibility then they don't want to be simultaneously advertising to the public that they're open for food sales. They're not open, they're closed.
    - bsimpson 9y ago
      The weird part is that there's not exactly a toll plaza - it's totally integrated into the city. I presume they made some argument about rangers not being available or something, but there was really no reason it needed to close. It's on a public street, and in a city with emergency services.
  - refurb 9y ago
    My guess is politics. If you want voters to push to end the shutdown, make it hurt regardless if the shutdown requires it. This also happened with national parks. They actually chained up the entrances during the shutdown as if people can't access a park if the gov't is shutdown.

by bambax 9y ago

toomanybeersies 9y ago

The vast majority of police in the USA are not federal police, only federal government workers, not state government workers, are affected by this. Essential workers, such as military, are still required to turn up to work, they just don't get paid. It's not the US Government would stop wars just because they can't pay their bills. Congress, funnily enough, is actually except from the shutdown and members of congress still get paid, which is a bit perverse in my eyes. As for things like electricity, I assume they just put it all on credit, it's not like the government isn't going to pay the power companies when they finally approve the budget. I usually have a month after my power bill comes in to pay it.

jtokoph 9y ago

It's more of a shutdown on non critical departments, and lots of times there are still skeleton crews for some of them. For example, the postal service is still running. Here is a decent article explaining what is still up and running: https://www.npr.org/2018/01/19/578985305/open-or-closed-heres-what-happens-in-a-partial-government-shutdown https://www.npr.org/2018/01/19/578985305/open-or-closed-here...

toomanybeersies 9y ago
The USPS isn't a government department though, it's an independent agency, that generates its own funds separate from the federal budget.
- ryanmarsh 9y ago
  I had no idea the USPS was a GSE (Government Sponsored Entity) like Fannie Mae (which many believe is a government agency)
dragonwriter 9y ago
It's a shutdown in almost all distribution of funds that consequently includes a prohibition on work by non-essential personnel; “department” in the federal government is a very large organization, and a much higher level of organization than the one at which the non-essential vs. essential distinction is made at.

robert_foss 9y ago

I think some groups are exempt. Like congress men. Separately I think that the police aren't on the federal level, the FBI is but they may also be exempt.

pmorici 9y ago

Most police are funded at the local or state government level. The police employed by the federal government still stay on the job they just won’t be paid until the situation is resolved.

lambda 9y ago

One thing to understand about the US is that it is actually a federation of states. Much of the day-to-day work happens at the state or local level, not at the federal level. Police, fire departments, emergency first responders mostly employed at that level, and when the federal government is involved, a lot of it is in doing some coordination between states, setting standards, funding for various programs, and so on. Even things like building interstate highways, which are funded by the federal government, are generally done by allocation to the state governments to actually construct them. However, the military is entirely part of the federal government, as are many other organizations. In the case of not having a budget, the government is required to shut down all functions that are not essential for safety and security. So things like the military, the TSA, and so on can continue to function, but office workers doing jobs like allocating the funding for highway construction are furloughed, put on temporary unpaid leave from their jobs. This is, of course, terrible for the efficient functioning of government; when the impasse is over, they will have to come back to their jobs and try to catch up. Oh, and in the time leading up to the shutdown, many of them would have been busy preparing for the shutdown, documenting which functions would be considered essential and thus able to continue during the shutdown; because the deadline was no surprise, and there had been many temporary funding bills leading up to this point, there was always a pretty high chance that this shutdown would happen. Of course, this inefficiency plays well into the politics of one of the parties, who hold a religious belief that private enterprise is always more efficient than government, and so playing games like this that increase its inefficiency help to sell their case and get government functions sold off to private enterprise, who just so happen, in so many cases, to be some of the largest donors to campaigns of this particular party.

jmadsen 9y ago
"Of course, this inefficiency plays well into the politics of one of the parties, who hold a religious belief that private enterprise is always more efficient than government" Which is beyond ironic to anyone who's worked in the corporate world, but I guess that's for another thread. This idea they have that private enterprise naturally evolves toward the most efficient system is laughable.
- 9y ago

chrisper 9y ago

It's mostly federal services that will close. Like national park etc.

bsimpson 9y ago

This is the thing that blew my mind last time: The shoreline of San Francisco is a national park (donated when the military base here closed). There's a restaurant on the shore called Cliff House, whose landlord is the US government. During the shutdown, the government forced the restaurant, a private establishment, to close. The owners and the kitchen staff were not allowed to make a living. And because they aren't government employees, they don't get any restitution when the government is funded again.

mcv 9y ago
Why would a lack of funding for the government suspend a rent agreement? That's actually money flowing into the government. Why does that need to be shut down?
- bonesss 9y ago
  Without knowing the specifics: renting land from the feds inside a national park is not entirely the same as renting land from a private person in a commercial zone. From a park-management perspective services offered inside a national park close when the park closes. The park-restaurant doesn't get to reopen that park or its services any more than the hotdog vendors force Wrigley Field to open on the weekdays... Just like a mall closing for safety reasons: even though there is a buck to be made there are also liabilities and requirements. If the park isn't offering its rangers/personnel/management/responsibility then they don't want to be simultaneously advertising to the public that they're open for food sales. They're not open, they're closed.
  - bsimpson 9y ago
    The weird part is that there's not exactly a toll plaza - it's totally integrated into the city. I presume they made some argument about rangers not being available or something, but there was really no reason it needed to close. It's on a public street, and in a city with emergency services.
- refurb 9y ago
  My guess is politics. If you want voters to push to end the shutdown, make it hurt regardless if the shutdown requires it. This also happened with national parks. They actually chained up the entrances during the shutdown as if people can't access a park if the gov't is shutdown.