Government Shutdown

UPDATE: Well, the government didn’t shutdown. As I was writing the below post, minutes away from what would almost surely be a government shutdown, Reid, Beohner and Obama finally came together, at least temporarily. Six days from now we’ll be facing another shutdown. I’m not hopeful.

A government shutdown is nearly upon us. Two key questions still remain: What will this mean for us, the citizens, and whom should we blame?

The most thorough, succinct list of what shuts down and what doesn’t I could find is here. Essentially anything necessary for public health and safety will remain in full operation, but this still leaves about 800,000 government workers out of work and pay for as long as the shutdown lasts.

Gawker gives us great insight into what these workers will experience by, well, asking the workers. They received hundreds of e-mails, which can be found here and here.  My favorite submission is from a worker at the EPA:

Contrary to popular opinion, government workers are not lazy freeloaders who do nothing all day and collect huge salaries. Just about everyone I work with busts their ass on a daily basis working weekends, nights, and some are continually on travel spending time away from their families. All of this while here at EPA we are continuously being demonized for putting undue burdens on our corporate overlords. Burdens such as ensuring that we have clean drinking water and air (the two most important substances to human life). As for government workers being overpaid, nobody gets into environmental protection for money because there isn’t any to be made unless you sell your soul an energy company. I’m 28 with a Masters degree making $45k per year while friends of mine in corporate law pull in over $150k right out of law school.

The Atlantic gives a more in depth analysis of what a government shutdown will mean for the economy. The last shutdown under Clinton cost about $100 million a day. Today, the closure of national parks alone will cost an estimated $32 million.

Troops unpaid. National parks closed. D.C. trash uncollected (and Beohner’s lawn in danger)! Who’s to blame for the madness? Women.

Women? Women, with their female reproductive systems and demands for the government to fund outlandish procedures like pap smears and breast cancer exams, are bringing the government to its knees.

Wait. Those are pretty reasonable demands. Who could possibly argue that the government shouldn’t be funding birth control and cancer detecting procedures for women who can’t afford them? Republicans.

This whole government shut down—the 800,000 furloughed workers, the hundreds of millions lost in economic productivity, the half-payments to troops —hinges on funding for Planned Parenthood. For once in a long time, I’m actually proud of Democrats for sticking up for women and refusing any budget that cuts funding for Planned Parenthood. Republicans need to stop hiding behind “cutting spending.” This fight isn’t about the budget. It’s about politics. It’s about ideology. And as usual, it’s about attacking the poor and stripping women of their right to choose a healthy existence.

(Photo by Phil Roeder under a Creative Commons license)