Republican Shutdown Shuts Down The Economy — So Do The Cuts They Demand

Progressive Caucus co-chairman Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and other members of the Progressive Caucus react to Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal.

Here we are only four months into Republican control of the House of Representatives and the government is shutting down! When you give power to people who hate the government, what do you think they’re going to do? Since the election the Republicans have been itching to gut or shut the government. It has been a drumbeat that they either get everything they want or shut it down. And getting everything they want guts the government.

Either way our economy takes a big, big hit.

A Continuing Resolution Continues

What is happening in Washington is that the government has been operating under a “Continuing Budget Resolution” that expends the last budget until a new budget can be passed.

We have a normal budget process, but Republicans refuse to follow it. Normally a “Continuing Resolution” continues the current budget until a new budget passes through the budget process. That’s why it is called a Continuing Resolution.

But this time Republicans are holding us all hostage to their demands, saying, “We’ll shut down the government if you don’t agree to big, big changes” that are made outside of the normal budget process. They want dramatic cuts in the things We, the People (government) do for each other, such as investment in infrastructure, unemployment benefits, research, disease control, transportation programs, etc. They are even cutting the Social Security Administration -- the people who get you on the list when you are 65 and send out the checks! They are demanding that no compromises be made, they want the government gutted or shutted.

No Compromise — Begging To Shut It Down

Conservatives say they will accept no compromises in their demands, they want the government gutted or shutted and they want that right now. NPR recently took a look at the conservative frenzy to shut down the government,

On Monday morning members of the conservative Tea Party Nation group received an email with the rather unambiguous subject line: “Let the Government Shut Down!”

… In a county full of seniors and retirees, the conservative wing of the GOP is the ascendant force of local politics. And its members are in no mood for compromise — at least for now.

Here is conservative Town Hall’s take on it: “Shut It Down!”

CNN report, Tea Party: Bring on a government shutdown,

…Tea Party supporters, including some members of Congress they helped elect, welcome a possible government shutdown as soon as midnight Friday. Bringing to a halt what they consider to be a bloated and misguided federal government would be a tangible success for their citizen activism that claims allegiance to no single party.

Their strategy: force a shutdown, and then blame the people who are trying to keep it open.

So what happens to our economy if they get a shutdown, and if they get their way and gut the things We, the People — our government — does for us?

If They Shut Down

If they shut down the government in the middle of a very fragile recovery, our economy will take a huge hit.

AP: Obama administration: Shutdown would hurt economy,

The Obama administration is warning that a government shutdown will have broad economic impact, halting the processing of tax returns, reducing access to small business loans and limiting access to government-guaranteed mortgages during peak home buying season.

800,000 government workers would be laid off, affecting the economies of areas where they are employed,

… somewhere in the vicinity of 800,000 workers will be affected. Congress and the judiciary branch will also be subject to a shutdown.

The Federal Housing Administration, which guarantees about 30 percent of home mortgages, would stop guaranteeing loans. The issuance of government backed loans to small businesses would be suspended. And processing of tax refunds would halt for those who filed paper forms.

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