Keeping up with the latest from Capitol Hill has been a bit of a downer… oh, for the past infinity or so. Between the bickering, backstabbing, lying, and the general dumbassery of our esteemed representatives in Washington D.C., it's been hard for the general public to get a sense of exactly why these men and women were elected in the first place.
The current "debate" is over the budget for the remainder of this fiscal year. Republicans are demanding more cuts to the budget, while Democrats are unwilling to concede to such measures. If something doesn't happen soon, the government could face "a partial shutdown" as soon as Friday. What, exactly, would that entail? According to a video produced by the New York Times, here are some things we could look forward to in a "government shutdown."
- The Smithsonian would likely be closed.
- National Parks might be shuttered.
- Government agencies will have to determine which employees are (and are not) "essential," which determines who gets to work during a shutdown.
- Unemployment, Social Security, and foodstamp benefits may be stifled.
Lots of qualifiers used here, but the truth of the matter is, despite the fact that the government technically can't spend any money without congressional approval, a "no deal" between the reds and blues wouldn't literally entail a shutdown of everything.
As a final note, Republicans recently said that the Democrats' proposal of $33 billion in cuts was "not enough." The amount Republicans proposed cutting just a month and a half ago? $32 billion.
--Brandon
Photo taken from this photostream and used with permission of a Creative Commons license.
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