Hey Obama, You Do Realize That You're Responsible for the Shutdown if it Happens, Dontcha?
President Barack Obama, along with most of his Democratic colleagues, are bellyaching that John Brown No Compromise Republidouches are gonna shut the government down by not compromisin' already even though they got everything they wanted, including trims variously valued at effectively 0.00 percent of this year's federal spending.
Yeah, mebbe. I have no interest in supporting Republicans—indeed, I think The Tears of John Boehner Are Like Acid to Freedom—but the Dems oughta face facts. The only reason that they are in a pickle is because they utterly failed to pass a fricking budget last year even though they controlled the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. There's no way around it, fellers: You stunk up the joint worse than the enema man, Snoopy Poopy Poop Dogg, and Alan Simpson together.
This marks the only time since current budget-process rules were adopted in 1974 that a budget didn't get done. Nice going, Dems. Regardless of who voters end up blaming this time around, in your heart, you know you suck.
And just how bad will a government shutdown be? The New York Times reports on the horror.
SOCIAL SECURITY The government would continue to make Social Security payments to the 53 million beneficiaries. "We will continue to process applications for benefits, but it might take longer if a shutdown does occur," said Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for Social Security. "Our local offices will open for limited services. We are working on the specifics."
A huge backlog of applications for Social Security disability benefits would grow even larger, agency officials said.
HEALTH CARE Medicare, the program for people who are 65 and older or disabled, would continue to pay doctors and hospitals for several weeks, using money from its trust funds…
PASSPORTS As a national security agency, the State Department would continue operations, but some activities, like issuing passports for travelers and visas for foreigners coming to the United States, could stop or face significant delays. Emergency consular services would continue.
POSTAL SERVICE Post offices would maintain their regular hours and mail delivery would continue.
FOOD STAMPS Since the government makes the money available to states by the beginning of each month, advocates for food stamp recipients predicted no immediate impact on benefits. "They should be O.K. for the month of April," said Stacy Dean, a food stamp expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
MILITARY Active-duty personnel would continue to work and earn pay during a shutdown, but would generally not receive paychecks until Congress appropriated money at some later date. While troops in combat zones and assisting Japanese earthquake relief would continue operations, they might not be paid until a new budget was approved….
PARKS AND MUSEUMS National parks would be closed and the Smithsonian Institution's museums are planning to close.
WELFARE (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Benefits have been authorized through the end of September, so experts predicted that cash assistance payments would not be affected. States share in the costs and could substitute their own money to make up for delays in the arrival of federal dollars.
"Our expectation is that it's not going to have a big impact," said LaDonna A. Pavetti, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
As Los Lobos once asked, with all that, how will the wolf survive?
