As we all know, the government has not been up to par in dealing with our nations financial situation. It’s got to the point where now both parties can’t come to agreement on the budget which is possibly leading to another Government Shutdown to take place by the end of the week. Some might think this could be the thing that opens the governments eyes on our spending/budgets while others might think the world will end if the government shuts down due to the fact they simply just don’t know what that means. If history truly does repeat it self then below is a list of situations that could impact Americans based on the 1995-1996 Clinton Administration Government Shutdown that lasted 3 weeks:
- New patients were no longer accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health. In addition, NIH disease hot lines and CDC disease surveillance were stopped.
- Work on more than 3,500 bankruptcy cases in the federal court system was suspended.
- Hundreds of thousands of “nonessential” federal workers were furloughed for three weeks, from mid-December 1995 to early January of 1996. (Some of those workers eventually received back pay for their missed days.)
- Of $18 billion in Washington, D.C.-area federal contracts, $3.7 billion (more than 20%) were affected adversely by the funding lapse.
- The National Park Service closed 368 sites, for a loss of 7 million visitors. The National Park Service administers 84.4 million acres of federal land in 49 states and other federal territories. Since 2008, park visits have totaled 285 million annually.
- National museums and monuments closed, including the Smithsonian and other government buildings, with an estimated loss of about 2 million visitors.
- More than 600 toxic waste dump sites went untended and uncleaned during the last shutdown. About 2,400 Superfund employees did not work.
- The recruiting and testing of new law enforcement officials – including 400 Border Patrol agents – were suspended.
- During the last shutdown, 20,000 to 30,000 applications for visas by foreigners went unprocessed each day, along with 200,000 applications for U.S. passports. Airlines also suffered, as many prospective travelers were unable to fly.
- The Department of Veterans Affairs had to cut many of its services — including health care, welfare, travel and finance — as the department could not process compensation claims.
- The shutdown meant a delay in processing alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives applications by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
- The National Weather Service did not produce its regular reports.
- New Social Security claims were not processed, because the agency furloughed more than 61,000 employees. As the shutdown continued, the agency regrouped, recalling workers to start processing new claims again
Both Shutdowns would be almost identical, let me explain: They would both happen after a major recession. Both parties are unable to agree on a budget for the following year. Major issue and question for both shutdowns is if the government should raise the debt ceiling (we need to learn to stop digging when were stuck in a hole), and finally both economies were sluggish to recover.
I hope this post clears the air on what a Government Shutdown might actually mean to you!
Great posting!!!