The current dispute about who will be blamed if the federal government shuts down reminds me of Chicken Little, running around screaming that the sky is falling.
The politics of the situation is about blame — that is, which side, Democrat or Republican, can convince the public that the other party is at fault. But perhaps the more important question is, just what does a shutdown mean?
What it doesn’t mean is that everything the government does will stop and that all government employees will be furloughed or laid off — that no one will be minding the store. In short, that the world as the average American knows it will stop.
So, if there is another shutdown, what is likely to happen this time around? Past history provides us with some clues.
In the three years 1977-1980, there were six shutdowns of the federal government, ranging from eight to 17 days.
Sofia Resnick noted in The Washington Independent, “When a government ‘shuts down,’ it doesn’t actually shut down completely — just those services that are not considered to be ‘essential,’ such as tours at the National Mall or getting rid of the animal poop at the National Zoo (which actually happened during the last government shutdowns in 1995 and early 1996).”
Federal guidelines established in the 1980s provide that government agencies should continue the following types of activities: national security, including the conduct of foreign relations; benefit payments and contract payments on contract obligations; essential activities, such as medical care of inpatients and emergency outpatient care; air traffic control; safety functions for protection of transport property; border and coastal protection and surveillance; protection of federal lands and buildings, waterways and other government property; care of prisoners and other people in custody; law enforcement and criminal investigations; emergency and disaster assistance; activities essential to preserving the U.S. money and banking systems, including borrowing and tax collection activities of the Treasury (Internal Revenue Service); activities that ensure the production of power and maintenance of the power distribution system; and activities necessary to maintain protection of research property.
This lengthy list pretty well illustrates that most essential government activities continue during a shutdown.
A five-day shutdown in 2005 resulted in the following services being curtailed, among others:
» The National Institutes of Health stopped accepting new patients into clinical research.
» Toxic waste cleanup work stopped at 609 sites.
» Work was suspended on more than 3,500 bankruptcy cases.
» Delinquent child-support cases were suspended.
» 368 National Park Service sites were closed.
» Work on 200,000 U.S. passport applications stopped.
» All 13,500 Bureau of Indian Affairs employees were furloughed.
» An estimated 25,000 American Indians did not receive timely payments of oil and gas royalties.
During the first President Bill Clinton-era government shutdown in 1995, 800,000 federal employees were furloughed, in addition to an untold number of federal contractors who were affected, but essential services continued.
In short, the United States will not stop functioning during a government shutdown, and the world will not come to an end, much as our political leaders would like us to believe.
For my money, we should shut the government down as often as possible. The less time legislators spend in session, the less damage they can do.
As Will Rogers famously said, “Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.”
— Harris R. Sherline is a retired CPA and former chairman and CEO of Santa Ynez Valley Hospital who as lived in Santa Barbara County for more than 30 years. He stays active writing opinion columns and his blog, Opinionfest.com.
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