Are You Surviving The Government Shutdown?

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Ken Anderson, Dec 22, 2018.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    My daughter works for one of the contractors that do government work, so when I was chatting with her last night, I asked her about the situation. I know that she has friends who actually work for the government side, and they have to interact with each other to make sure that the contractor and the government are both on the same page with whatever the project is that they are doing.
    She said that everyone she knows is still working, and that the DOD has not shut down any of its workers. Apparently, they are all getting paid just fine.
    However, she said that some of the other government workers are not being paid right now, and some of them still have to report for work. The ones who do not have to report for work, and are basically on furlough, can collect unemployment or find a temporary job somewhere ; but the ones who have to come to work can’t do that.
    Probably , most of the civilian employees at the arsenal are also working with the DOD, or for NASA, and that is why they are all still working.
    She is also really upset that none of this affects the lawmakers in Congress, and so the shutdown happens all of the time, regardless of who the President is.
     
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  2. Lulu Moppet

    Lulu Moppet Veteran Member
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    My idea, in post #47 of this thread:
    "WHAT IF................people lobbied for a law that states during a government shutdown the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch were not permitted their salaries if government workers on payroll were not paid?"
    is Unconstitutional. Since those branches pass the laws, sign the laws, it wouldn't have a chance.

    Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1:
    The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.
     
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  3. Emma Smith

    Emma Smith Veteran Member
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    You may be right, but a lot of people in the U S have tremendous debt and people lower on the pay scale with childcare costs, etc., often have little or no savings.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    You're right. My point was that the situation they are in no worse of a position than that faced by other Americans often, and the fact that they are federal government employees who will be paid eventually means that they are far better off than the average American who is faced with a layoff or a company closure.
     
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  5. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I just learned this morning that our junior senator is refusing all pay until the shutdown is settled. Yea, Dan Sullivan!
     
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  6. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    Project Veratos has shown that a lot of government employees are working against the government and bragging they cannot be fired. Also the government is blooded with people who just have a job because they knew someone in the government. How do you downsize the government and how do you get rid of the people working against you in your own government?
    Here is a video on you tube I follow just might have found the answer.
    Bread From the Baker - In Pursuit of Truth Presents - 1.16.19

     
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  7. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    The media is going all out in their attempts to get people worried about the government shutdown. This morning, one of the news shows said that the economic effects of the government shutdown will be felt for years to come.
     
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  8. Al Amoling

    Al Amoling Veteran Member
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    Saw an article the other day stating that if an employee is furloughed for 30 days he is then subject to a RIF. Now that could be an unintended method to reduce the size of the federal government.
     
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  9. Maggie Mae

    Maggie Mae Veteran Member
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    #84
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  10. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    With those wages they become multi millionaires interesting
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Given that we'd be much better off if the government were smaller, this would be a good time to lay people off rather than sending them home and paying them anyhow, albeit late. It won't happen of course, and if Trump tried to do that, some federal judge would say he couldn't.
     
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  12. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    The video posted by @Martin Alonzo is very long, so many of you won't view it, but I would recommend the first 10 minutes. As a former Federal employee, I have seen many of the things pointed out in the first part of the video. There would be "special circumstances" in which "non-essential" personnel were allowed to leave work and still get paid, e.g., bad weather, flu epidemics, etc. When it was pointed out that "non-essential" personnel could be RIFed without consequence, the designation was changed to "non-emergency". The non-essential/non-emergency folks are the ones not now required to report to work in the shutdown. As the video pointed out, those people not working after 30 days could be subject to RIF (Layoff) similar to Reagen's RIF of the ATC people who went on strike. They could be removed more quickly, as the controllers were in violation of Federal law. Trump has already reduced the Federal payroll, but this would give him the opportunity to remove 400,000 people from Federal service in one move.. I don't know if that is really what he intends to do, but it would be possible once the shutdown reaches 30 days.
     
    #87
  13. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    Your right Don but did not know how to change it
     
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  14. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    I have a question for those a tad more knowledgeable than I about calling for a vote.
    Why cannot the House minority leader call for a vote? With the Dems out playing, the minority leader could call for a vote and either the Dems would have to show up or the vote on the proposed bill for the wall would be approved by the Reps and then be sent to the senate which would also end
    the shutdown.
    And, even if things went south, the Democrats and Rhino Republicans would be forced to stick around and do some work instead of vacationing.

    Or, am I missing something?
     
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  15. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I'm not sure if that could be done or not, but it would require incentive on the part of Republican congresspeople, and that's not their strong point.
     
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