A week ago at midnight there was a “shutdown” of the federal government. President Obama continues to refuse to negotiate, and another battle is rapid approaching: the debt ceiling. But despite the White House making life as painful as possible in the name of partisanship, barricading World War II veterans in front of their monuments, throwing the elderly out of their homes, disabling the amber warning system, blocking national and private parks, etc., most of the government still functions. Byron York breaks down numbers: :
In Thursday’s conversation, a Republican member of Congress mentioned that the military pay bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama at the beginning of the shutdown actually represents a huge percentage of the government’s discretionary spending in a given year. And it’s still flowing. So if we take this money and add it to all the entitlement spending that is not affected by the suspension, as well as all the areas of spending that are exempt from the suspension, and add it all up, how much of the federal government’s total spending is still ongoing even though the government is it technically closed?
I asked a Republican source on the Senate Budget Committee for the estimate. Here is the answer: “Based on estimates compiled from CBO and OMB data, 83 percent of government activities will continue. This figure assumes that the government pays amounts owed in mandatory funds before the shutdown ($512 billion), spends $225 billion on furloughed military and civilian personnel, pays benefits to those deemed eligible before the shutdown (approximately $2 trillion) and pays interest costs on time ($237 billion). This represents approximately 83 percent of projected 2014 spending of $3.6 trillion.
That’s right folks, 83 percent of the federal government is still open for business. The Obama administration wants to make this so-called “shutdown” as painful as possible because, after all, it can’t afford for Americans to realize that the federal government is bigger than it needs to be. What about federal employees? They are also fed up with the crisis management in Washington.
There was a time when being a federal employee meant a steady salary, great benefits, and the pride of serving your country.
But today, many federal workers are frustrated, anxious and increasingly tired of being pawns in a never-ending political fight over government funds.
“The pay has gone down, the uncertainty of the day-to-day job, the stability that was a draw for a lot of people is gone,” said Tommy Jackson, an Air Force acquisitions manager in Warner Robins, Ga., who spent 30 years in government.
So will the 17% shutdowns end soon? Unlikely. Yesterday on ABC’s “This Week,” House Speaker John Boehner expressed further frustration and urged President Obama to call him. President Obama has no plans to call, continuing his conversation non-negotiable position with Republicans in the House of Representatives.
“He knows my phone number, all he has to do is call me,” Ohio State’s Boehner said on ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos.
In his first extended television interview since Tuesday’s shutdown, a defiant Boehner firmly placed the blame for the fiscal impasse on Obama, who has refused to meet with House Republicans until the government reopens at current spending levels.
“The president can’t just sit there and say, ‘I’m not going to negotiate,’” Boehner said.
The United States is expected to hit the debt limit on October 17.
