How would a government shutdown affect federal workers?

Nvm. We'll just have to wait & see.

You just made alot of people feel old.

But back on topic, yes the results of a Govt. shut down would be that Federal workers would not get paid. (As far as i can tell anyway)

I pesonally think this is a plot to install Martial Law. When people stop getting their food stamps, Social security, and welfare it is going to get ugly. Then people start begging the Govt. to save them from the looters and meyham.

This is just a possiblity. Most likely if it does happen it will only last a week or so.

reply to post by watchitburn


Hopefully only a week. But with all the chaos in the world right now, it wouldn't be inconceivable for it to last for longer. This could potentially lead to further unrest and even food riots, because people are out of work and no longer have unemployment. The figure of unemployment is 9.7%, which seems deceivingly low. But that's close to 30 million of the current US population.

In 1995 when the government shutdown many federal workers were furloughed until a budget was passed. It didn't save the government any money either. All those workers who were furloughed were paid back wages from their time off.

reply to post by watchitburn


Come on people, it is MARTIAL LAW (named after Mars, the god of war and refers to military rule) Not Marshall Law (not the Marshall Plan nor the law of marshalls or sheriffs which is what we already have under civilian rule).

That 9.7% unemployment is from the Happy Govt. Imaginationland. The real unemployment rate is somewhere around 22%. Here are a few good sources for information.

ShadowStats
NIA.com
Visionvictory youtube channel

reply to post by watchitburn


Wow, that's about 66 million people, not to mention others who are being furloughed.

reply to post by CosmicCitizen


Thanks for the correction, no need to get all worked up about it.

60% of my income is disablity. I get my benefits on March 1 and March 3 would I still get get my benefits deposited into my bank? What if this lasts until next month then what happens. I am a little panicked. I heard this on my local news yesterday. This is not just a conspiracy it looks like. Why are they punishing us for their mistakes.(the government).

I just called social security and they are not sure what is going to happen. They said if the government shuts down it will be for a few days maybe. The guy said they have recived no memos or been told anything. He siad more than likely benefit payments will be delayed. One time my benefit was late by one day and causes chaos in my life. I had a $50 late fee on my rent. I paid my full rent without the late payment but then they added $5 a day on my late payment. I recieved an eviction notice due to not paying the late payment. I finally worked something out but they marked down I was late on my rent.
This snow balled into the manager at that complex judging me and looking down on me for being on disablity. She would not let me renew my lease because I did not make enough money to live there. I paid my rent on time every month except that one time. When I went to move out I was turned down by a couple different apartments due to that one late rent payment. Finally she agreed to give a good reference so I would move out. She said she was trying to "clean" up the complex and did not anyone on welfare in her complex. I told her I was not on welfare and go to school; as well as work.
My point here is that one late payment can really cause choas in a person's life. If my payment is delayed who is to say this type of situation won't play out again. I don't want to talk to my apartment complex yet about it so hopefully this won't happen!

reply to post by dreamseeker


You make some excellent points about how the small guy gets hurt with this type of political posturing. You think the Politicians are gonna have problems paying their bills if they decide to abdicate their responsibilities.

I hope things don't get too tough for you, Hopefully these politicians will get their act together without causing you and others in a similar situation any problems.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


It isn't fair to do this to the people. Those government workers who will be affected be the ones who live paycheck to paycheck. Those workers may find themselves in a similiar situation to mine. If a paycheck or a benefit is only delayed one day it really can cause choas but what if it is one week or two weeks? Can anyone really afford to miss that much work?

reply to post by watchitburn


I dont think they want to instill martial law the military is payed by the goverment, and honestly if they did at least there would be people in power that actually care about this country.

In 1995 the gov't shutdown. Nonessential government employees were told to stay home, Federal parks and monuments were closed....Weird thing is, the country kept going. Checks were sent out and the military were still guarding the borders.

This isn't as tragic a scenario as the MSM or politicians are making it to be. In fact, the salaried employees saw no loss of money. This did affect the hourly workers in that they lost 2 days of pay.

reply to post by Feltrick


It just sounds scarier when you say government shut down you think of horrible scenerios.

Originally posted by watchitburn
You just made alot of people feel old.

But back on topic, yes the results of a Govt. shut down would be that Federal workers would not get paid. (As far as i can tell anyway)

The most recent news is that government civil service workers / federal contractors will be placed on Furlow while a specific few are to be chosen to remain behind to "hold down the fort". In this regard, the government has to determine who is "essential" and who isn't... Which is the reason the Federal Workers Union recently filed a lawsuit against the government.

The recent lawsuit was filed because the Federal Workers Union filed a FOIA request a few weeks ago asking the government who would be deemed "essential" and who wouldn't. The Federal Workers Union never got a response. The mode of thinking goes.. Since the government doesn't know whether or not it will even happen they aren't at liberty to say who would be essential and who wouldn't (or at least not yet). That has raised a few eyebrows, especially amongst Civil Service Employees that I know, personally.

"Essential" government workers would remain at their jobs, just like they normally would, only they wouldn't get paid. At least not right away. They would eventually recieve backpay after a new budget does get approved.

"Non-essential" government workers wouldn't be able to work and there is no guarantee they would even make the backpay. The last government shutdown was a long time ago. There is a specific way Congress must approve the backpay for non-essential federal workers and the last time we had a government shutdown was a long long time ago. The economy is completely different now (Last time, they did make backpay however).

I, myself, am in charge of the drafting department for a company that works on a military installation full-time. We are not federal workers, ourselves. However, the entire situation puts the company and others like it in an extremely tough spot.

When you have dozens of federal projects that are on-going at multiple military installations at any given time it definately gives you an extremely cynical view of the entire ordeal. Would the federal workers running those projects even be there? Would the federal workers running Quality Control on those projects be there? Will we be asked to continue work in the meantime? If so, which projects would continue and which wouldn't? Will the government ever approve a spending bill that continues out longer than a single month?

There is alot of uncertainty. Especially in the Civil Service right now. I can only imagine what those meetings must be like..

-ChriS