Government Shutdown 2015

Republicans have promised to shut down all nonessential functions of the federal government next week if the budget contains any funding at all for Planned Parenthood. Current regulations already prohibit PP from using any government funds to provide abortions.

Negative impacts on ordinary people have already begun, as people cancel travel plans that involve trips to national parks. Hotels and restaurants will lose money no matter what happens next. Due to cold weather, most of these trips will not be rescheduled until spring, at the earliest.

 

Is public funding absolutely necessary for the existence of Planned Parenthood?
I get the feeling it's got enough widespread support that it could sustain itself as a stand-alone organization.

 

Yet they still get paid...

 

Sort of like recycling. Only a few items are recycled at a profit. Things like lead, aluminum and newspaper are profitable. Glass and plastic are not profitable to even separate and collect for recycling.

Seems to me that the profit angle has been met already for PP. What's the point of diverting taxpayer money to PP when it could go to feeding existing children? I realize it all makes for great political theater. But what's the point? Why have the government involved?

 

From the Washington Post.

Department of Commerce: 87 percent of the agency's 46,420 employees would be sent home. (The Weather Service would keep running, for instance, but the Census Bureau would close down.)

Department of Defense: 50 percent of the 800,000 civilian employees would be sent home while all 1.4 million active-duty military members would stay on. (Environmental engineers, for instance, would get furloughed, and the agency could not sign any new defense contracts.)

Department of Energy: Thanks to multi-year funding, parts of the agency can actually operate for "a short period of time" after Sept. 30. But eventually 69 percent of the agency's 13,814 employees will be sent home. (Those in charge of nuclear materials and power grids stay. Those conducting energy research go home.)

Environmental Protection Agency: 94 percent of the 16,205 employees will be sent home. (Those protecting toxic Superfund sites stay. Pollution and pesticide regulators get sent home.)

Federal Reserve: Everyone would stay, since the central bank has an independent source of funding.

Department of Health and Human Services: 52 percent of 78,198 employees would be sent home. (Those running the Suicide Prevention Lifeline would stay, those in charge of investigating Medicare fraud would go home.)

Department of Homeland Security: 14 percent of the 231,117 employees would go home. (Border Patrol would stay. Operations of E-Verify would cease. The department will also suspend disaster-preparedness grants to states and localities.)

Department of Housing and Urban Development: 95 percent of the 8,709 employees would go home. (Those in charge of guaranteeing mortgages at Ginnie Mae would stay, as would those in charge of homelessness programs. Almost everything else would come to a halt.)

Department of Interior: 81 percent of the 72,562 employees would be sent home. (Wildlife law enforcement officers would stay, while the national parks would close.)

Department of Justice: 15 percent of the 114,486 employees would go home. (FBI agents, drug enforcement agents, and federal prison employees would stay. The department would continue running background checks for gun sales. Some attorneys would go home.)

Department of Labor: 82 percent of the 16,304 employees would be sent home. (Mine-safety inspectors will stay. Wage and occupational safety regulators will go home. Employees compiling economic data for the Bureau of Labor Statistics will also get furloughed.)

NASA: 97 percent of the 18,134 employees would be sent home. (Scientists working on the International Space Station will stay. Many engineers will go home.)

U.S. Postal Service: Everyone would stay, since the Postal Service is self-funded.

Social Security Administration: 29 percent of the 62,343 employees would be sent home. (Claims representatives would stay; actuaries would go home.)

Supreme Court and federal courts. Federal courts, will continue to operate for approximately two weeks with reserve funds. After that, only essential employees would continue to work, as determined by the chief judge, with the rest furloughed. (The Supreme Court will continue to operate when it opens Oct. 7, as it did in previous shutdowns.)

Department of Treasury: 80 percent of the 112,461 employees will be sent home. (Those sending out Social Security checks would stay; IRS employees overseeing audits would go home.)

Department of Transportation: 33 percent of the 55,468 employees will get sent home. (Air-traffic controllers will stay on; most airport inspections will cease.)

Department of Veterans Affairs: 4 percent of the 332,025 employees would go home. (Hospital workers will stay; some workers in charge of processing benefits will go home.)

 

The Republicans are trying so, so hard to prove that they can actually govern, given that they finally have control of both houses of Congress. McConnell and Boehner have promised that this year, they will actually govern and not behave like children and not shut down the government.

Well, we shall see.

 

My understanding is that the abortion rate for PP is 4%. I think that the government has been involved monetarily because of the other services it provides for women, particularly women who cannot otherwise afford decent care. The same folks that want to rid the world of PP have wanted (and still do) to get rid of any government involvement in PBS. Which, of course has real news and takes PLENTY of time to delve into what EACH side has as a basis for their opinions. Not so good for repubs. Fox "news' is, I suppose, what
"real news" looks like to the same crowd. I personally believe abortions should happen very early on and not very late. I also personally believe that I can't bear a child------so it
doesn't matter what i think. Presently, it's the law of the land.

If THEY just showed some compassion for the thousands and thousands of children that don't have enough food to sustain a healthy life, THEY wouldn't seem so hypocritical.

 

In a sure sign that a government shutdown is going to take place, John Boehner is retiring, not only as Speaker of the House, but from his congressional seat. He has made it known that he thinks shutting down the entire government over a single issue is a terrible idea, but he is unable to lead his own party in the House to a different course of action. The majority of them believe that compromise is for losers, and they should hold out for 100% of what they want, at any cost.

This shutdown is going to be disastrous for a variety of people who have no connection to Planned Parenthood, and potentially disastrous to the Republican Party. I hope the voters are paying attention to who is causing all this avoidable pain.

 

I have mixed emotions.i am not a Boehner fan by any stretch of the imagination, but if the repubs elect a more conservative speaker, it will only lead to more confrontation, and stalemate.
In regards to the shutdown being a disaster for the republicans, we can only hope. However, the American electorate has always had a short memory.

 

I don't think it can get any worse. So, I'm in favor of nominating Trump and having a complete asshole as Speaker of the House, because maybe this will make it clearer to Americans that they shouldn't vote Republican.

 

Okay, it now looks like Boehner has pulled one last rabbit out of his hat and bought us three more months. Here's how it works. He's going to put together a three month budget extension that will get votes from nearly all Democrats and just enough Republicans to get it passed; mostly Republican House members who are fiercely loyal to him, and/or not planning to run for re-election next year. The rest of the GOP in the House will vote against it. By fucking his own party in the ass like that, Boehner would have flushed his own chances of remaining Speaker down the toilet, had he not already announced his retirement date.

I've never liked him or gone along with many of his views, but I have to respect this move. He knew this shutdown was wrong, he didn't want another one to happen on his watch, and he pulled out the only trick that had a chance of working. Basically, he threw himself on a hand grenade. He took one for the team. What a way to go out!

Looks like we're going to be back here in this thread in December, talking about the same problem. So, enjoy your national parks while you can. October is a beautiful month!

 

So when the shutdown happens and the military comes to your door to tell you to leave and get in the car for security reason what are you going to do about it?

Post online?

What is your way of acting now without typing out a bunch of shit?

 

Sounds good to me. Shut the whole miserable thing down. Permanently.

 

[response to multiple deleted posts]

We need to get back to the possible government shutdown.

 

Repubilcans are making a mistake. Its a fight they don't need.

 

It's official, this is resolved until December, when whoever replaces Boehner will have to deal with it.

 

Obama commented that the republican congress managed to avert another shutdown. A republican congresswoman said Obama was being unbecoming to the presidency with that comment. MSNBC Diaz shot back, that the republicans were unbecoming to the congress and the country, with the threat of a shutdown. The congresswoman replied that Harry Reid should get rid of the 60 vote majority rule.....here's a clue...Reid isn't in charge of the senate, the republicans are!

 

A political science professor @UPenn, John Diiulio (was for a few months in 2001 Bush's chief of the faith-based initiatives program), wrote ages ago that whatever becomes the domain of the fed. gov. remains the domain of the fed. gov. Even when what seemed like a good idea at the time becomes an absolute disaster, especially because so many fed. executives in every cabinet dept. & agency have produced their own fiefdoms based in part on these domains of gov., it's really hard for any Pres. or Congress to just stop these funding programs & usually there're reverberations that even the genuine professionals didn't see coming. Very likely, this funding of PP is by contract.

Here's an example of where "defunding" led. In 1984, Congress approved funding for the Navy's A12 Avenger attack jet; despite strenuous opposition from both SECNAV Lehmann & the Navy air command. I believe the pri. contractors were Boeing & General Dynamics. Or maybe MacDonnell Douglas & Boeing.

In any case, by 1991 no prototype had yet been built & program managers were reporting to SECDEF R.B. Cheney that the A12 program should cease. (This despite steadfast support by the chief Pentagon auditor, a guy named Sean O'Keefe, who later became the chief admin. of NASA.) Sure, Cheney had to go before the various appropriations cmtes & plead for defunding the A12 program. This Congress voted to do.

Unfortunately, there was a big matter of a contract betw. the Navy & the contractors. So of course, the contractors sued for breach of contract; that dragged on for almost 10 yr, but eventually contractors were awarded $10s of millions. The candidates may proclaim they'll just stop this or stop that, but as some have noted about PP, it may be cheaper t'keep 'er.

 

With the republicans not being able to elect a speaker of the house, the government will likely shut down on November 10th when the debt limit is reached and no budget to extend it.

 

Boehner might stay on.