Why the Government Shutdown … Isn’t

By Rachel Alexander Published on January 22, 2018

You know how much of the government gets shut down in a “government shutdown”? Not much.

Urgent services aren’t curtailed, and even non-urgent services and landmarks like public monuments are often kept open. Postal workers are still delivering mail and TSA screeners are still scanning travelers and their luggage at airports. Social Security checks are being sent out. The military keeps protecting the country.

Government Just Too Big

Only non-essential government employees will be “furloughed.” They will still get paid later, so they basically get a vacation. In the last shutdown, in 2013, the federal government paid an estimated $2 billion (pay and benefits) for work not done.

The government’s just too big to shut down much of it. Too many people depend on it. We all depend on the military to keep working. In 2013, the government kept about 40% of its workers home (about 850,000), for a total of 6.6 million days, reports the OMB. That doesn’t include the military and the Postal Service. All active duty personnel (about 1.3 million men and women) and about half the military’s civilian employees keep working.

Politifacts explains the policy:

The longstanding guidance is that “employees who are performing emergency work involving the safety of human life or the protection of property” remain on their jobs during a shutdown. The determination of who works and who doesn’t has traditionally been made by senior executives and legal advisors at each agency.

Here’s one problem with government shutdowns: Congress still gets paid. Those guys may shut down the government, but they don’t shut down themselves. They expect our soldiers and sailors to keep serving without pay, but they won’t cut off their own paychecks.

The Point

So what’s the point of calling a small restriction on government activities a “shutdown”? It’s called that to make the other political party look bad. It’s politics. Republicans and Democrats both do it.

This time it lets Democrats use all their favorite insults: “Republicans don’t care about children”; “Republicans don’t care about the elderly”; “Republicans don’t care about the environment.” Whatever makes the Republicans look bad, the Democrats will throw out there.

It’s time to get rid of the term. The media loves the term because it’s so dramatic and drama gets clicks. Let’s be honest and call it a “partial government slowdown.” It’s not flashy, but it represents the mere posturing going on in Congress better than that dire description. 

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