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As someone who actually worked for the Federal government when it shutdown in the past, people are exaggerating the implications for narrative purposes. This ha
by jandrewrogers 1y ago
As someone who actually worked for the Federal government when it shutdown in the past, people are exaggerating the implications for narrative purposes. This happens semi-routinely, there is a boring reality that goes along with it.
The people worst off are Federal contractors. They are effectively unemployed during these periods. Many actual employees, like me in previous shutdowns, are essentially on irregular paid time off. In theory it is unpaid, but it is always retroactively paid in practice and everyone knows this. People that are “critical” kind of get a raw deal because they still have to work while people deemed less essential don’t have to work.
It is unfortunate that it happens but I wouldn’t get overly caught up in the theater of it all.
- losteric 1y ago> In theory it is unpaid, but it is always retroactively paid in practice and everyone knows this. Why only in theory? Why does it get paid back in practice?
- shuckles 1y agoBecause everyone involved is in on the grift and the money comes from the taxpayer's budget.
- tjohns 1y agoHistorically, congress always passed a one-time bill to retroactively pay the federal employees after each shutdown. Because it turns out not paying your workers is extremely unpopular, especially if you want to retain them as workers in the future. Most people (federal workers included) are living paycheck-to-paycheck and can't financially weather a furlough - they still need to pay rent. The federal government would quickly find itself unable to attract employees given how often shutdowns occur. After 2019, congress passed a law that guaranteed back-pay for future shutdowns: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Employee_Fair_Treatment_Act_of_2019 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Employee_Fair_Treat...
- vanattab 1y agoI might be mistaken but critical workers are guaranteed back pay
- Retric 1y agoSo large numbers of government employees don’t quit when congress can’t get its act together and keeps passing sort term bills. It’s all fine to posture, but politicians hate long term consequences when they can use other people’s money to avoid them.
- Terr_ 1y ago> This happens semi-routinely, there is a boring reality that goes along with it. [...] retroactively paid in practice An important difference is that in the past employees were furloughed... but yesterday Republicans threatened they would permanently fire employees instead [0][1] and I'm not sure how it'll shake out. Their hostage-taking threat falls flat though: They already have have a solid track record of capricious and/or illegal firings [3][4] since the election. There's no reason to expect appeasement would make them stop what they still want to do anyway. _____________ [0] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administration-plans-to-retaliate-for-a-government-shutdown-by-firing-federal-employees-but-can-it/ https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-trump-administr... [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/unions-file-suit-trumps-illegal-plan-fire-many-federal-workers-shutdow-rcna234795 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/unions-file-suit-t... [2] https://www.npr.org/2025/09/25/nx-s1-5544317/federal-probationary-employees-firing-supreme-court https://www.npr.org/2025/09/25/nx-s1-5544317/federal-probati... [3] https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/tracking-trumps-unprecedented-often-illegal-firings-of-political-appointees-and-watchdogs/ https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/cre...
- flanked-evergl 1y ago[flagged]
- serenadeineb 1y agoAnd the alternative was ...
- flanked-evergl 1y ago[flagged]
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoSo they pass a CR, and the president ignores the budget and fires whomever they want anyway. The only people who can fix this are the Republicans in Congress, by pushing back on the president and making him actually obey the laws that they pass. Democrats are completely powerless here. Republicans made this mess, they are the only ones that can fix it, and now they own it. I guess we'll find it if this is what their constituents really want. Midterms are coming up.
- dannersy 1y ago[flagged]
- dang154f4g 1y ago[dead]
- docdeek 1y ago> Hegseth is telling top brass to prepare for war... Hegseth said, "To ensure peace, we must prepare for war. From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly restored Department of War is war fighting. Preparing for war and preparing to win." Clausewitz said the same thing, and the Romans were saying "Si vis pacem, para bellum" about 2500 years ago. Is what Hegseth saying so different to JFK saying, "'Pursue peace,' the Bible tells us, and we shall pursue it with every effort and every energy that we possess. But it is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."? Or so very different to Gerald Ford saying, "America's first goal is and always will be peace with honor. America must remain first in keeping peace in the world. We can remain first in peace only if we are never second in defense."? Whatever the criticisms of the current US administration, someone expressing the idea that securing peace means preparing for war doesn't seem all that remarkable.
- ThrownOffGame 1y ago[flagged]
- dannersy 1y agoYou have clearly never been to the cities that the right is claiming to be rioting and looting, because if you had, you'd know that your claim is objectively false.
- ThrownOffGame 1y ago[flagged]
- cosmicgadget 1y agoIt's less common that the president says he will use the shutdown to do rifs though.
- flanked-evergl 1y ago[flagged]
- kcplate 1y ago[flagged]
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoIt really doesn't matter what the Democrats do here. The president can just defund anything he wants, regardless. The Republicans are running the whole show. They can fix it any time they want. Trying to blame this on the Democrats is ridiculous.
- kcplate 1y agoI don’t think you understand how a “continuing resolution” on funding works
- cosmicgadget 1y agoCare to elaborate?
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoI'm pretty sure I do. Funding is continued at current levels. Then the president just cuts whatever he wants, because the Republican Congress won't force him to obey the laws they pass. Every Republican in Congress is completely spineless, because they are afraid the president might say something bad about them.
- kcplate 1y ago
- dang154f4g 1y ago[dead]
- bkettle 1y agoI found out yesterday that it is now the law that federal employees are guaranteed back pay after a shutdown, thanks to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 passed after the 2019 shutdown. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/24 https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/24
- Terr_ 1y agoI was honestly quite surprised to see such a bipartisan vote in the house. [0] (Senate was a voice-vote, so no details available there.) Then again, a lot has changed over that... ~6.5 years. [0] https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/201928 https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/201928
- westpfelia 1y agoExcept for people who are on welfare programs. They also dont get their payouts. Sure they WILL get it all back. But just because people will get to eat next month doesnt mean not eating this month isnt a problem.
- flanked-evergl 1y ago[flagged]
- johnnyanmac 1y agoThe government can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.
- ethbr1 1y agounpaid air traffic controllers calling in "sick" have entered the chat
- apexalpha 1y ago>As someone who actually worked for the Federal government when it shutdown in the past, people are exaggerating the implications for narrative purposes. This happens semi-routinely, there is a boring reality that goes along with it. You seem to have normalised Government shutdowns in a way to cope with it. But this is not normal, this does not happen in a normal government process.
- cudgy 1y agoMight be wrong but a quick search indicates that there have been 20 government shutdowns since 1976. That is certainly not not normal.
- lgats 1y agoa little more than one every 3 years
- apexalpha 1y agoAmong how many of the worlds’ governments?
- 5555624 1y agoWikipedia lists 11 in the U.S. since 1980, including this one. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_shutdowns_in_the_Un...) A couple were only for four hours.
- 1y ago
- instagib 1y agoSome federal contractor companies have a plan but not all do. They may allow workers leave without pay, forced them to take vacation/PTO, or critical workers are forced to come in and do 3 jobs at once but be paid while their friends/coworkers are not getting a paycheck. “The people worst off are Federal contractors. They are effectively unemployed during these periods.” I do not know if they are worst off as hopefully they have some emergency savings, credit card, or 401k loan they can take out. Last 4 shutdowns: 21, 16, 2, and 34 days.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- johnnyanmac 1y agoIt's not unprecedented, but I think calling it "regular" is also downplaying the issue here. We've been roughly on a schedule of once per 5 years or so. I think it is highly irregular given this presidency. Reagan shut down 3 times to weaken various unions and facilities, really wielding it as a bargaining chip. Clinton shut down twice as a president with a congress that didn't align with him Trump has now shut down the government 5 times, and the truly odd thing is how 4 times he had congress on his side. This isn't really something to just shake off. (and for completeness. Carter had the first shutdown ever and Obama shut down once as well).
- EasyMark 1y agoI think it's a bit worse this time since we have an unbridled President, that the SCOTUS has made King-adjacent, who wants to permanently fire a lot of the furloughed employees out of vengeance and with no clear logic other than he's angry. So this time it's not quite as matter-of-fact.
- infinet 1y agoAre the cleaning crews federal employees? Who is taking out the trash and maintaining the restrooms during the shutdown?