Diggin Deep
Active Member
The US Government is on the verge of shutting down if the lawmakers are unable to reach an agreement regarding the 2011 federal budget by 5:00 pm. The government will run out of money byt 12:00 midnight tonight if this is not resolved. This happened in 1995 and 800,000 federal employees were furloughed. If this happens today, it is estimated that upwards of 1.9 million people could be furloughed nationwide.
Here is what is safe, things the government has deemed "essential":
US Mail, Veteran's services, Social Security and disablity checks (though the works may be furloughed), Air Traffic Control, Food inspections, and Homeland security
Here is the list of what would stop:
-IRS: The IRS would close its doors, but taxes are still due on April 18. However, no refunds would be issued and it isn't clear what would happen if your return had an error in it.
-National Parks and Recreational Areas
-Uniformed Military Personnel: Men and woman serving in the US military would continue to serve, without getting paid.
And to make sure furloughed workers can resist the temptations of modern technology, the Committee said "employing offices may require furloughed employees to turn in their blackberries, laptops, and cell phones and should require furloughed employees to set an 'out of office' message on their email accounts."
Furloughed employees may be the lucky ones -- "essential" workers will have to show up, but won't get paid until after the shutdown ends.
"If you are an essential employee, failure to report for duty as required can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination," the guidance warns.
Here is what is safe, things the government has deemed "essential":
US Mail, Veteran's services, Social Security and disablity checks (though the works may be furloughed), Air Traffic Control, Food inspections, and Homeland security
Here is the list of what would stop:
-IRS: The IRS would close its doors, but taxes are still due on April 18. However, no refunds would be issued and it isn't clear what would happen if your return had an error in it.
-National Parks and Recreational Areas
-Uniformed Military Personnel: Men and woman serving in the US military would continue to serve, without getting paid.
And to make sure furloughed workers can resist the temptations of modern technology, the Committee said "employing offices may require furloughed employees to turn in their blackberries, laptops, and cell phones and should require furloughed employees to set an 'out of office' message on their email accounts."
Furloughed employees may be the lucky ones -- "essential" workers will have to show up, but won't get paid until after the shutdown ends.
"If you are an essential employee, failure to report for duty as required can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination," the guidance warns.
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I remember looking to see if anyone had wrote about it yet, but I obviously didn't look close enough. OOPS!!!! On the brighter side...it looks as if they have postponed the closure of the government, at least for now anyways! Regardless of what side of the fence all of us rest our political views and beliefs - I think it's safe to say that most of us wish that U.S. government could put their own differences aside and actually come to a decision that would benefit the people of this country, not just those in office.
