The ironic part of all this is that the healthcare exchanges still opened today as planned and are considered essential. So the House republicans have accomplished literally nothing except costing the government billions and making people go without paychecks ect.
My DH is a civilian DOD employee. We already dealt with sequestration. This is bullshit.
The last 2-3 years have been such a mindfuck. Several times we've had to worry whether he should go into work the next day. I told him he needs to get into a different line of work.
I feel you. DH and I are both DoD civilians, have had our pay frozen for the last four years, already were furloughed over the summer, have had our jobs made exponentially harder by sequestration, and so on. I am so, so grateful that at least I was excepted for this shutdown as we're still trying to reestablish normal operations, because while we have savings to cover us for several months, it's absolute bullshit that we would have to dip into our savings because Congress can't pass a CR, let alone an actual budget.
It really makes us question why we're sticking it out when we could easily find private sector jobs. I mean, we believe strongly in the work we do, but loyalty and dedication doesn't pay the bills.
I believe the reason Congress gets paid is because there is an amendment that makes it impossible for Congress to impact its own salary. The intention is that they don't give themselves buckets of money, but it ends up working to their advantage here, because their LACK of action won't result in lack of pay.
The ironic part of all this is that the healthcare exchanges still opened today as planned and are considered essential. So the House republicans have accomplished literally nothing except costing the government billions and making people go without paychecks ect.
I work for a large Govt contractor. All our contract work supporting ACA is proceeding as usual today. Our programs to improve military pay/HR systems are under Stop Work orders. I hope the Tea Party is proud of their accomplishment.
"We hate ACA so much, we gonna Fuck the warfighters to prove it. Way to go!"
I'm sorry you are going through this too. DH is our sole breadwinner at the moment. And you are right, we too have savings, but man, we have planned to use it on emergency stuff not because Congress can't approve a budget.
We are trying to ride it out, because DH needs to finish his MBA and a military school before he can find something better. Just going to white knuckle though it till then.
The ironic part of all this is that the healthcare exchanges still opened today as planned and are considered essential. So the House republicans have accomplished literally nothing except costing the government billions and making people go without paychecks ect.
I work for a large Govt contractor. All our contract work supporting ACA is proceeding as usual today. Our programs to improve military pay/HR systems are under Stop Work orders. I hope the Tea Party is proud of their accomplishment.
"We hate ACA so much, we gonna Fuck the warfighters to prove it. Way to go!"
This is me too...we are spinning our wheels trying to plan to reallocate resources elsewhere yet try to hang onto them for when the time comes to turn everything back on. And you know that there will be no concessions to deadlines and budgets when it comes to this fuckery...
H is just sitting around at work because no one knows anything and no one is communicating anything. Everything is just at a standstill while the higher ups flail. Sounds about right LOL
Is there a calculation of how much $ the government saves by not operating each day? If you figure that out, and then figure out how much money they are hoping to cut from the budget, and then divide it in half - that's about how many days the government will be shut down. This is an 'easy' way to save money. And by 'easy' I mean 'easy' for them, not for you.
Even if your math was correct (it isn't--it will end up costing the Govt more to shutdown than to continue), this isn't actually about the budget. AT ALL. This is 100% about the Republicans that have already cost the Govt almost ~$60M to repeal a law they don't like and deciding to hold the Govt hostage to get what they have continuously failed to do through normal channels. No matter what you think about Obamacare, as an American, you should be enraged by the way the House Republicans are going about this--this is not how any American should want their government run, no matter what their political beliefs are.
Again, this shutdown has absolutely nothing to do with the budget or attempting to save money.
THIS RIGHT HERE. This is NOT how our government is run - we have checks and balances and you know what, this shit was already part of the process and was deemed Constitutional. I'm so livid. George Bush did a lot of stuff I did not agree with, but I respected the fact that the party/idealogy I agree with was not the majority.
Yes but she's in the US military, stationed overseas.
I've thought VillainV was British this WHOLE TIME!
lol
Sorry to disappoint you! Secretly, when I was about 7, I desperately wanted to be British, and my mom had to tell me that I couldn't be British because I'm from America.
So it sounds like military will be getting paid, but I don't know yet if we'll be getting paid on time, or if paychecks will be delayed. We have enough in savings to last for a month or so without my paycheck (a little bit longer if we move investments and stuff), but I'm not gonna lie -- it's seriously going to impact my desire to any kind of meaningful work until our politicians sort this shit out.
My heart goes out to you negatively affected by the shutdown. I can't imagine how frustrating it is for you.
The contract negotiations I'm involved in now is with a contractor employed by the Government to run one of the Air Force's facilities. The workers I represent are not affected by the shutdown today because they are "mission essential". However, I am affected in that the injunction we want to file against the Employer is to be filed through the Department of Labor, and the Anchorage office is closed today because of the shutdown. I recognize I'm being selfish about my impatience--I so want this injunction to be filed!!
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny
I believe the reason Congress gets paid is because there is an amendment that makes it impossible for Congress to impact its own salary. The intention is that they don't give themselves buckets of money, but it ends up working to their advantage here, because their LACK of action won't result in lack of pay.
You know what I love? The fact that the WWII vets who are in DC on an honor flight were basically like "Go fuck yourself", moved the barriers to the WWII memorial and went in.
You know what I love? The fact that the WWII vets who are in DC on an honor flight were basically like "Go fuck yourself", moved the barriers to the WWII memorial and went in.
I read this too. The article said "These heroes faced the Japanese and Germans in combat. They didn't flinch at a couple of park police.". Awww yay WWII vets
You know what I love? The fact that the WWII vets who are in DC on an honor flight were basically like "Go fuck yourself", moved the barriers to the WWII memorial and went in.
Similarly at the Vietnam War memorial, a park service officer told a group that the memorial was closed, and then very pointedly turned his head the other direction and walked away.
Can someone smarter than me explain what would need to happen in order for the law to change regarding Congress still getting paid in the case of a shut down? Are there any perceived negative effects of them not getting paid during a shut down?
ETA: I see that it helps us avoid paying them too much, but surely there are ways around that, no?
We would have to amend the constitution (specifically the 27th amendment) which will never ever happen.
H has been at work for four hours and even his bosses bosses have no information on who is exempt or not yet. What a clusterfuck. It's gonna be a long day.
Someone just tried to school me on Facebook about how this is really the Democrats' fault because they won't compromise. And she's happy to "see [the Republicans] fight for what the party wants."
I schooled her on how bills become laws and she deleted her 3 comments, and now it looks like I've been talking to myself on my wall.
Someone just tried to school me on Facebook about how this is really the Democrats' fault because they won't compromise. And she's happy to "see [the Republicans] fight for what the party wants."
I schooled her on how bills become laws and she deleted her 3 comments, and now it looks like I've been talking to myself on my wall.
Uuuuuuugh it makes me SO ANGRY. Good for you for setting her straight. And, if it's any consolation, talking to yourself on your wall still leaves you the smarter person in this scenario.
You know what I love? The fact that the WWII vets who are in DC on an honor flight were basically like "Go fuck yourself", moved the barriers to the WWII memorial and went in.
I hate to be a downer, but Bachmann and another similarly nutty republican were assisting with this and trying to make it seem like they weren't the bad guys.