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Washington for months has been tangled in a messy political debate over the federal budget. The newest deadline to reach a budget deal - April 8 - is just days away.
The phrase "government shutdown" is being used with increasing frequency.
Temporary funding measures have kept the government running this year as U.S. lawmakers repeatedly extended the final budget deadline. An end to negotiations is still nowhere in sight - stoking the shutdown discussions.
While the thought of a Capitol Hill ghost town has a certain allure, federal budget expert Stan Collender says most Americans would find little to joke about in the face of a real shutdown.
"Everybody may hate federal spending, but they like federal services," Collender told NPR. "And that's what happened back in '95 and '96 when we had the last two shutdowns. Within minutes...after everyone got over the initial kind of amusement of the situation, they realized suddenly that they couldn't apply for a passport, couldn't apply for a visa, and national parks were closed. Government contractors suddenly found out there was no one there to review their proposals or process their checks - and they were angry as hell about it."
A U.S. government shutdown means running essential operations only. National parks and museums close, cleanup at toxic waste sites stops, passport applications and Social Security claims go unprocessed, and hundreds of thousands of federal employees and government contractors go without pay.
When asked Tuesday to rank the odds of a U.S. government shutdown on a scale of one (shutdown) to 10 (no shutdown), House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-MD, said, "I would've said ‘eight' two weeks ago. At this point in time, I'll tell you five to six."
Republicans and Democrats both have developed budget plans - with a $51 billion difference in the proposed spending cuts. Both parties are hesitant to compromise, but more than willing to point fingers at each other for delaying the process.
"One thing about a government shutdown, the government doesn't stop taking money out of your paycheck every Friday," Rep. Robert Andrews, D-NJ, told NPR. "People still pay taxes, but they get no services. How anybody could put the country at risk of that situation is beyond me."
While some anxiously await the deadline, others think the U.S. government will continue to delay a final decision until it runs into more problems - like next year's budget and the approaching debt limit.
"My guess is we end up with another short-term resolution taking it to, say, 4/29," said Money Morning Contributing Editor Martin Hutchinson. "After that, it's tied up with the 2012 budget and the debt ceiling, in both of which the GOP House has rather more leverage. My guess would be a fair number of threats and mock-crises in May, followed by an overall agreement on a giant package involving only modest cuts in early June, just before the government finally runs out of the ability to borrow."
This brings us to next week's Money Morning "Question of the Week": Do you think we are headed for a U.S. government shutdown? Do you think the parties will reach a budget agreement, or continue with temporary funding measures? How would you be affected by a government shutdown?
We reserve the right to edit responses for length, grammar and clarity.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to participate - via e-mail or by posting their comments directly on the Money Morning Web site.]
News and Related Story Links:
- Money Morning:
Washington's Debt-Ceiling Debate - A Political Sham
- The Wall Street Journal:
Government Shutdown Grows Likelier
- CNNMoney.com:
Government shutdown: What's at stake
- Money Morning News Archive:
Question of the Week Feature
Tea Party? Revolutionary? I thought the founding fathers left King's,bankers, and the status quo,to make a new and free country.? I'm not saying Democrats are any different as it is just a front like all politico's. Have you idiots seen any real change in the last 50 years in American politics?? Ha! I'd write more but if you can't go figure this you can't figure.What is the Federal Reserve? Greenspan's,appointed dictates now Bernanke's blunder's? Is anyone accountable?? Can the Fed or IRS be audited?? World Bank and the IMF? WE the People! Yes! The Soviets said the same thing in the proletariat. Workers rule. Ha! Go figure folks,wake up and smell the stuff grown in a different country that a middle man takes the profits,Poor Juan Valdez,he looks pretty good on the commercial. I like how they are called in Europe.Propaganda. Drink up,sleepy heads.!
Please try to keep the info coming with tips on surviving the US economy melt down.
This sort of comment only hastens the plight. Would you inverst in government stock after reading the comments here? Talk up a recovery. Find positive subjets to encourage climbing in the right direction. A journey of one thousand miles…
From Derbyshire England UK
Wasn't the question about a govenrment shutdown? I say bring it on. Give the economy a breahther without Washington trying to micro manage every detail of our lives. Other countries have somehow managed to go months without a "government". Italy and Belgium come to mind. Just think of all the money we could save in 2 weeks if Congress and the White House could not use their debit cards!
A brief answer to one commentators statement is… Yes, we did beat back ' The King's Men' in the early days of our history, preventing a continuation of English Colonial Rule, in America..However, we NEVER got rid of 'their' bankers. That little side-bar, has cost this country dearly. President Jackson knew this all to well, as other Presidents have, thru the succeeding years.
As for the government shutdown…. Well, the angry, anti-establishiment side of me, says.. SHUT THE DAMN PLACE DOWN !!! to the extent it would, under the circumstances.
It seems that whenever Congress is in session and all those Obama appointed Czars are in Washington, aka the District of Corruption, they manage to cause ' The People' of this nation, more worry, grief and fear, then if they just stayed home. So, STAY AWAY. We don't want anymore of Washingtons Machinations and skullduggery, undemining America's underpinnings, in trying to create some sort of globalist, UN Controlled, statist supra-state, spreading their manure, at ' great cost' to the American people and Our country's Wealth [.]
Imagine, the government not being able to spend tax-payers money at will on personal in-devours.
Imagine, the people actually stepping up and realizing with the shut-down that they don't need lies anymore.
Imagine, the people getting a hold of government files once again like Watergate and realized the shit that they've been blindingly supporting all these years like 9/11 or the extermination of millions in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it's ok American, go back to sleep it's just the WORLD trying to wake you up…
Everything comes to an end, it can't last forever. And thank you! There needs to be a new world order. Where half the population worries about clean water and clean natural food, and the other half fix the bloody problems the government, world banks, oil companies, and other institutions have created for us. Things like the BP Oil Spill, the Asian Brown Cloud; the pacific trash island, or the re-population of the oceans ecosystem. How about fixing that hole in the Ozone, or teaching millions to stop killing for religion, money, and culture. Then there's how to remove nuclear power plants (you think we would have learned with Chernobyl..), and lastly how to make a world sustainable without the middle-man of money.