Questions tagged [government-shutdown]

A scenario where government funding ends without a new budget in place to continue funding. Typically this ends all non-essential government services. This tool is used to try and force other parties to negotiate on other issues, sometimes unrelated to the budget. Use with any relevant country and party tags.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
3 votes
2 answers
134 views

Continuing Resolution majority necessary?

I have a fair understanding of the appropriations process but what I have trouble with is finding information about what kind of consensus is needed for a CR to pass Congress. Is it by simple majority,...
6 votes
1 answer
443 views

Can Congress really raise or suspend the debt ceiling through budget reconciliation with a simple majority in the Senate?

Some background info here The federal debt ceiling has currently been suspended until August 1. If this year so far is any indication, Senate Republicans will do everything possible to use a debt-...
8 votes
2 answers
338 views

What happens to the money during a government shutdown?

In the US, which part of the government is holding the money due to federal employees? During a government shutdown, what happens to this money? Is it reinvested through short-term lending?
  • 183
-6 votes
1 answer
162 views

How does Donald Trump shut the government down? [duplicate]

What eludes me is how the president is able to shut down the government, and why nothing has been done about it.
  • 1
4 votes
1 answer
423 views

Does anything prevent essential government employees from quitting during the shutdown?

Currently only "essential" government employees are allowed to go to work and they're doing so without pay. But as the shutdown gets longer and people's savings start running out, would anything ...
  • 48.5k
6 votes
2 answers
281 views

Given the president supports a "clean" CR, when can the US federal government reopen?

The president has announced that he supports a continuing resolution temporarily reopening the US federal government (which is currently partially shut down). Since the opposing party has already ...
  • 1,229
17 votes
5 answers
1k views

Are there any theories as to why there is so little public outcry about the US government shutdown?

As an European living in the US I'm baffled about the partial US government shutdown. Specifically the lack of public outcry surprises me. In general I have the feeling that people sympathize with the ...
  • 187
0 votes
0 answers
159 views

What agencies are affected by government shutdown? [duplicate]

I did a search and visited a few government websites, but I still can't seem to find all the agencies affected by the shutdown.
1 vote
1 answer
247 views

What fiscal backbone is there for employees who are now on "leave without pay" due to government shutdown?

Well considering a shutdown takes quite some time, it means there are lots of people with various skillsets who are literary thumbling thumbs. Just to wait till they can get their job back. Since not ...
  • 1,297
9 votes
1 answer
452 views

Which investigations against Trump are getting delayed due to the government shutdown? (if any)

There are currently several investigations on-going that involve Trump. Many of them are listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_investigations_into_Trump_and_Russia_(2017) So my ...
  • 311
3 votes
1 answer
868 views

Do non-working, non-essential US Gov't employees get back paid for time not worked?

Essential employees who are working will receive back-pay when the Gov't reopens. What about the non-essential employees who are not working? Will they get back-pay even though they did not work ...
5 votes
1 answer
254 views

What is the next portion of the US government that will be shutdown?

Currently, it appears that around 25% of the US government is shutdown. To the best of my understanding, this is because different departments funding expires at different times. What does the ...
  • 4,341
32 votes
3 answers
8k views

Can Congress end the government shutdown without the President's agreement? [duplicate]

Negotiations over the current US government shutdown have, as far as I've heard, mainly been between the President and Congressional Democrats. So far, Republicans in Congress seem to be siding with ...
5 votes
2 answers
385 views

Why doesn't funding for U.S. government services simply continue at its previous level if a new budget can't be passed?

In the United States, a failure to pass a budget for the new fiscal year results in a government shutdown, during which all government agencies lose funding except those which are funded through other ...
  • 764
8 votes
4 answers
707 views

Have members of Congress missed a paycheck during this shutdown?

It is my impression (perhaps incorrect) that Congressional operations has already been funded through the end of this fiscal year, consequentially not impacted directly by this current shutdown. ...
  • 10.2k
38 votes
2 answers
10k views

What happens if the shutdown continues until election season?

Hopefully, this doesn't happen, but what happens if the US shutdown continues until the 2020 elections? Does the Federal Election Commission (FEC) have funding? Will elections be post-poned? If the ...
  • 747
2 votes
1 answer
275 views

Budget reconciliation for border wall?

Could Congress have used budget reconciliation to fund a border wall and avoid the current shutdown?
  • 21
1 vote
1 answer
329 views

How long can a president keep a government shutdown? [duplicate]

I was wondering how long is it possible for a shutdown to go on, months, years? Can it be forced to stop?
  • 369
-2 votes
2 answers
524 views

If Democrats are opposed to the shutdown due to the excessive costs of the wall, why do they accept costs of shutdown?

The primary arguments offered by Democrats against the wall and the demands for border security funding by Trump and the Republicans, all revolve around cost and inefficiency. But in order to ...
6 votes
2 answers
484 views

Are there any assumptions on how long the US government shutdown is bearable for the unpaid employees?

I know that the government employees will be paid for their work during the shutdown after it has ended. However in the meantime they have to live on savings or on borrowed money. Where I live (not ...
  • 61
4 votes
1 answer
456 views

Why did Trump willingly take blame for shutdown? [closed]

It is hard to say that the shutdown is due to one particular party only, despite the claims made by Democrats and Republicans alike. The truth is that either party has the choice to concede and end ...
  • 49
7 votes
1 answer
413 views

What happens if a government shutdown lasts long enough for the current appropriations for essential services to run out?

Based on a comment by mcalex on How does a shutdown end if an agreement is never reached?: Only non-essential services are shut down atm. None of the answers seem to talk about what happens once ...
  • 976
10 votes
6 answers
1k views

If conservatives don't like government, why don't they like the shutdown?

As far as I know, I have repeatedly heard a conservative stance arguing in favor of reducing government spending. But, at the same time, it appears as though politicians from across all aisles want to ...
  • 123
5 votes
1 answer
501 views

Is government shutdown US specific?

Government shutdown is hot these days and consequently a target for Politics questions. For a person living in Europe and not familiar with US politics the concept of government shutdown is very ...
  • 52k
5 votes
2 answers
416 views

What happens to government workers who had applied for days off during the shutdown period?

I'm assuming the following 1) That Congress will pass a bill that includes backpay for furloughed workers. Some might want to debate whether this will happen or not but going by historic precedent ...
46 votes
6 answers
15k views

What are the Republicans' arguments for blaming the Democrats for the shutdown?

The President and other Republicans have been casting blame on the Democrats for being responsible for the current government shutdown. If Republicans had a majority in the House and the Senate at ...
5 votes
1 answer
454 views

How many Republicans from non-Democratic states would have to side with Democrats to override Trump’s veto?

I'm just curious how hard an override of the veto to restart the goverment is? Let's say the goverment shutdown keeps going, grows less popular, and neither Trump nor the Democrats are willing to ...
  • 8,750
0 votes
1 answer
403 views

Why are Republicans (Trump, Graham) going all-in on border security funding when they most likely won't get it? [closed]

Trump was not able to get (enough) border security funding, and so due to that disagreement, the government shut down. In particular, the Senate approved a bill without that border-funding, but the ...
  • 51
36 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why does a US government shutdown have a specific beginning time?

From coverage about government shutdowns, I have gathered that these always begin a specific date/time "when the government runs out of money". But, if it were just running out, surely the beginning ...
  • 689
73 votes
5 answers
16k views

How does a shutdown end if an agreement is never reached?

The US government is shut down, due to disagreements between President and Congress on border security funding. Both sides are in an apparent stalemate. So my question is simply, what happens if ...
  • 611
3 votes
1 answer
937 views

Is the NBIB affected by the 2018-2019 government shutdown?

Background The National Background Investigation Bureau (NBIB) is a government agency within the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and is important for people in the United States ...
  • 5,416
-4 votes
2 answers
321 views

Missing Headline "Federal employee paid vacation celebrates not funding the wall" [closed]

According to this answer When the government is funded again the things they would have paid for anyways would still be paid (i.e. salaries). In short this means all US government workers are on ...
8 votes
2 answers
611 views

What is gained by shutting down the government?

My question is Why? I found out that numerous presidents have shut down the government when they were unable to reach an agreement with the Legislature. Presumably the disagreements were all about ...
  • 91
5 votes
5 answers
2k views

Legislation or Constitutional Amendment needed to prevent Government Shutdowns in the US?

If we wanted to create a rule for the government budget that said that would prevent government from NOT leaving the government funded, would it require a constitutional amendment or could/should this ...
  • 1,568
1 vote
1 answer
302 views

Does the US Government shutdown prevent NORAD from tracking Santa? [duplicate]

A US government shutdown, such as the one occurring in 2018, prevents the government from funding non-essential services. Does that mean that NORAD is unable to continue its tradition of tracking the ...
  • 7,547
43 votes
2 answers
8k views

In the news, it says "essential" government employees would be required to work without pay. How?

In the news, the reporters have been talking about "essential" (real quotes, not scare quotes) government employees being required to work without pay by these two statements (paraphrased). All ...
  • 1,225
2 votes
3 answers
520 views

What sense does it make to describe a halt-of-work caused by the US government itself as it being "shut down"?

I thought I understood roughly how US "government shutdowns" worked: If Congress (the legislative branch) is unable or unwilling to pass a law authorizing the executive branch to spend public funds on ...
20 votes
1 answer
1k views

Will NORAD Santa tracker be affected by the government shutdown?

If the government shutdown that started about 12 hours ago (at the moment of writing the question) will continue (and probably will) later than 24 december, than what will happen with NORAD Santa ...
  • 203
3 votes
2 answers
699 views

Will the government shutdown impact federal courts?

The US government is currently partially shut down. Will the government shutdown impact federal courts or slow process on new matters filed in federal court?
  • 7,935
9 votes
1 answer
5k views

Can't congress override Trump's assumed veto of the temporary spending bill?

The senate unanimously passed a spending bill a few days ago to keep the government funded until mid-February. Trump stated that he will veto it because it doesn't include funding for a wall. There is ...
  • 495
7 votes
1 answer
732 views

Why is the US federal government allowed to shutdown?

According to Wikipedia from October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown: (..) curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation ...
  • 52k
1 vote
3 answers
613 views

What exactly did the Republicans win from ending the shutdown?

I was listening to 538 podcast about shutdown end, and they made it sound like their opinion is that on balance, Democrats didn't really win anything meaningful (compared to not having started ...
  • 90.7k
9 votes
1 answer
5k views

Why do we pay taxes during a government shutdown?

While a government is shutdown there are a lot of services that are not available (including the IRS). Why do we still pay taxes during the government shutdown? Shouldn't we get a refund or a part of ...
  • 101
0 votes
1 answer
416 views

Has the White House expressed willingness to revisit the January 19, 2018 DACA deal?

As described in this question and answer, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claims that on Friday (January 19, 2018) he offered a deal to President Trump that would have averted the government ...
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why did Sen. McConnell object to Sen. McCaskill's resolution to fund the military during the government shutdown?

The Washington Post reports that ...Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) made an effort shortly after midnight to get the troops’ salaries and death benefits paid through the shutdown. “I want to make sure ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
929 views

Did Schumer offer Trump a deal that included the wall?

The United States is currently in a government shutdown, because Democrats won't vote for an appropriations bill without a deal on DACA, and President Trump won't agree to a deal on DACA without ...
7 votes
2 answers
585 views

What does DACA have to do with the government shutdown?

I'm a little confused why DACA is the catalyst for inability to pass a budget. What does DACA have to do with the federal budget? Is the disagreement over inclusion of funding for it? Or have those ...
  • 349
22 votes
2 answers
3k views

In the USA, why is there still a government shutdown when Congress and the White House are controlled by the same party?

During the United States federal government shutdown of 2018, a single party commanded both the White House and a majority in both houses of Congress. Under these circumstances, why is there a ...
  • 46.9k
27 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why did Mitch McConnell vote against cloture for the continuing resolution on 2018-01-19 despite supporting it?

The record shows that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell voted against cloture for a continuing resolution which would have kept the government open. Despite this, he said that by not supporting ...
2 votes
2 answers
459 views

Why is the looming shutdown of the US federal government not avoided by "reconciliation"?

As alluded to in this MSNBC clip, the strategy of at least some of the elements of the Republican party is to lay blame for the looming shutdown of the US federal government due to lack of funding ...
  • 358