Are todays shutdowns really just symbolic?

[Kilgore]

After reading the list of what keeps operating during a shutdown, it looks like parks, museums, and data collection agencies take the hit and those paid get their pay retroactively.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-to-know-about-a-government-shutdown/

So, has the shutdown gone the way of the modern fillibuster, a symbolic measure and a stick to beat the other party up with?

[shraby]

1. Nope, last time the U.S. got a downgrade in the debt rating from A to A-

Not exactly sure of the rating, but it was downgraded from excellent to not as good.

That means we pay more interest on our debt.
I fully expect it will happen again.

[Loki Liesmith]

3. Triple A to double A and no one believed that

The ratings agency in question was showboatingZ

[NutmegYankee]

5. That was the debt limit, not a shutdown.

Failing to raise the debt limit and defaulting would be catastrophic.

[Drahthaardogs]

2. No. Even though the feds go to work as "essential"

They don't get paid because payroll duties are NOT essential. Thus, they go to work, essentially for free, with the promise that they will get paid when Congress gets around to it.

Not symbolic for a lot of people.

[Kilgore]

8. Ok, but

My federal friends tell me they always get their pay aftwards. One actually said he looks at it as paid time off.

[Drahthaardogs]

9. Whatever

There is no guarantee they get paid and last furlough they did not.

[dlk]

4. The Shutdown is Not Symbolic to Federal Workers Who Won't Get Paid

Not receiving a paycheck is hardly symbolic. Republicans have a long history of treating federal workers extremely poorly.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Usually no contractors get paid AT ALL

and that includes no retroactive pay either (if they were funded from appropriations, which most but not all are). And contractors make up about 1/2 of the federal workforce.

Plus with the ilk running the legislative branch today, I can easily see them refusing to pay FTEs "retroactively". During the last shutdown in 2013, it actually became a fight to get them to pay us. This time, who knows.

[CrispyQ]

7. People already on social security will get their checks.

Those who are in the process of applying are SOL. I read that 10,000 people a day are applying for social security. That's gonna be a lot of pissed off people!

[Cicada]

10. 56% IRS at home costs a fortune

Collections of overdue tax reduce national debt, delayed audits increase national debt.

[LeftInTX]

11. My husband says no gun sales