Well, this is definitely a big deal topic. Wish it was possible to do more than just blog – as a journalist it would be so ideal to be able to have first hand interviews and be in the field doing the work, but since that is not the easiest thing to do at this current time a blog post citing other news sources will have to suffice.
A blog on the LA Times has a list of 13 ways a Federal Government Shutdown would impact the nation – well before posting that list to explain the obvious it is worth mentioning that obviously there are more than 13 ways that it would impact the nation. Many Republicans (Democrats too, but Republicans are more known for this) are in favor of the Federal Government being shut down. More power to the states is an issue that has been looming, giving states the right to choose vs what the federal government has to say. Anyway here is the list of 13 that this blogger has come up with:
The reason that this is worth posting is that when going to the actual blog post (here) each of the 13 reasons has a link to go along with it to explain in further detail.
“1. The IRS would stop processing paper tax returns. Only 30% of tax filings are done the old-fashioned way via paper, but those returns would be set aside, and any refunds for those filings would be delayed.
2. The IRS would stop conducting audits. Sometimes there is good news with the bad.
3. The Federal Housing Administration, which guaranteed nearly 40% of all U.S. home purchase mortgages totaling $200 billion last year, would cease endorsing new mortgages.
4. The Small Business Administration would be forced to halt approval of business loan guarantees.
5. About half a million visitors to the National Zoo and the major Smithsonian museums on the Mall would be turned away this weekend alone.
6. About 800,000 federal employees nationwide would be furloughed. Some would be deprived of their BlackBerries and instructed not to tweet.
7. “Nonessential” furloughed federal employees would probably not receive back pay for the days they were not allowed to come in to work.
8. U.S. economic data would not be released on time, “making it more difficult to determine the influence on growth of the recent jump in commodity prices.”
9. The Environmental Protection Agency would stop safeguarding the health and the environment of millions of Americans.
10. National parks including Yosemite, Yellowstone, Death Valley and others would be forced to close.
11. Uniformed members of the military would stop being paid, even if they are engaged in combat.
12. Government contracts won’t be paid, thus contractors could be out of work.
13. The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade will probably be canceled, denying the young actor Atticus Shaffer (who plays Brick Heck on ABC’s “The Middle”) the honor of being the grand marshal. However, a parade spokesperson is saying that they are “exploring every avenue possible” to go on with the show. “
CNN.com has done a non-scientific poll about how people feel about the shut down of the Federal Government. As of 8:07 EST here are the results:
Honestly? People aren’t worried at all. That seems irrational – but gaining more insight occurs when clicking on the “related article.” It links also to Time online’s article about if we are ready for a shutdown.
“If there is no deal by midnight Friday, when the current spending authorization measure expires, parts of the government will close down.”
Well here’s the video labeled as an emergency.
More on this later. It’s very important.
Zennie Abraham