Federal government shutdown: Causes, processes and effects - Journalist's Resource Journalist's Resource
Federal government shutdown: Causes, processes and effects
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The 2013 U.S. government shutdown as a result of partisan battles over fiscal issues is creating ripples across the country, and federal workers of all kinds are being told not to report to work. What might things look like in the coming days and weeks? What does the research say?
President Obama has signed an order so that military members will be paid during the shutdown, but furloughs and closed offices will affect the Department of Defense nonetheless. A 2013 report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS),
notes the following:
The most far-reaching authority that affects DOD is authority to continue activities that “provide for the national security.” Even DOD’s authority to provide for national security, however, may be constrained by legal limits on the financial procedures that are permitted when appropriations lapse. Among other things, in order to carry on activities that are permitted to continue, but for which appropriations have lapsed, funds may be obligated in advance of appropriations (i.e., legally binding contractual commitments may be made), but expenditures of funds that derive from such obligations (i.e., the payment of bills with checks or electronic remittances) are prohibited. As a result, though uniformed military personnel and many DOD civilian employees may be expected to continue in their duties during a funding lapse, those normally paid with current-year appropriated funds, including virtually all uniformed personnel and most civilians, will not receive pay until after appropriations become available.
A 2011 report — subsequently updated in August 2013 — by CRS,
presents the general mechanics of such a work stoppage for the government as a whole and the complex legal background, and enumerates the broad effects of the previous shutdowns, in .
Under the U.S. Antideficiency Act, select federal agencies and programs must stop operating if and when their funding is not further appropriated by Congress. However, certain core positions in the government will be considered “exempted activities” and will continue to function. These include roles relating to national security, medical care, duties “essential to ensure public health and safety,” law enforcement, and air traffic control and transportation safety functions.
Some of the consequences are not yet fully known, the CRS report suggests: “Programs that are funded by laws other than annual appropriations acts — for example, some entitlement programs — may, or may not, be affected by a funding gap. Specific circumstances appear to be significant. For example, although the funds needed to make payments to beneficiaries may be available automatically pursuant to permanent appropriations, the payments may be processed by employees who are paid with funds provided in annual appropriations acts.”
A full government shutdown last took place for a 21-day period, from Dec. 16, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996; a related one also took place Nov. 13-19, 1995. These events prompted the furloughing of several hundred thousand workers and had wide implications for the U.S. economy. Important points in the report relating to the shutdowns in
Health and welfare services for military vet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped
new clinical research patients were not accepted at the National Institutes of H and toxic waste clean-up work at 609 sites was halted.
The closure of 368 Nation Park sites resulted in the loss of some 7 million visitors.
Recruitment and testing of federal law enforcement officials was reportedly cancelled, including the hiring of 400 border patrol agents.
200,000 applications for passports and 20,000 to 30,000 applications for visas by foreign U.S. tourism and airline industries incurred millions of dollars in losses.
More than 20% of federal contracts, representing $3.7 billion in spending, were affected adversely.
Of course, there is also talk of the federal government’s impending failure to resolve the impasse over the federal debt limit. The Congressional Research Service distinguishes this situation from that described earlier, where budget negotiations break down:
In a debt limit impasse, by contrast, the government no longer has an ability to borrow to finance its obligations. As a result, the federal government would need to rely solely on incoming revenues to finance obligations. If this occurred during a period when the federal government was running a deficit, the dollar amount of newly incurred federal obligations would exceed the dollar amount of newly incoming revenues. In such a situation, an agency may continue to obligate funds, because it has budget authority available for obligation, provided that appropriations are in place. However, the Treasury Department may not be able to liquidate all obligations that result in federal outlays, due to a shortage of cash, which may result in delays in federal payments and disruptions in government operations.
Another CRS report,
issued in September 2013, notes that many “funding gaps” have occurred before for very short durations, and these did not result in full shutdowns. But the report notes that “when a funding gap occurs, federal agencies begin a shutdown of the affected projects and activities, which includes the prompt furlough of non-excepted personnel. The general practice of the federal government after the shutdown has ended has been to pay furloughed employees for time missed, even when no work was performed.”
The Pew Research Center has produced a variety of
providing insight on public opinion relating to these issues. The latest numbers suggest the public will likely blame Democrats and Republicans roughly equally.
Tags: Congress, economy, employment
Media/analysis tips
Analysis assignments
Read the Congressional Research Service study
Summarize the study in fewer than 40 words.
Express the study's key term(s) in language a lay audience can understand.
Evaluate the study's limitations. (For example: Do the results conflict with those of other reliable studies? Are there weaknesses in the study's data or research design?)
Read the issue-related Washington Post article
If you were to rewrite the article based on knowledge of the study, what key changes would you make?
Newswriting assignments
Write a lead (or headline or nut graph) based on the study.
Spend 60 minutes exploring the issue by accessing sources of information other than the study. Write a lead (or headline or nut graph) based on the study but informed by the new information. Does the new information significantly change what one would write based on the study alone?
Interview two sources with a stake in or knowledge of the issue. Be prepared to provide them with a short summary of the study in order to get their response to it. Write a 400-word article about the study incorporating material from the interviews.
Spend additional time exploring the issue and then write a 1,200-word background article, focusing on major aspects of the issue.
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Unless otherwise noted this site and its contents are licensed under aShutdown may idle non-federal workers next weekGet the news
Shutdown may idle non-federal workers next weekThe federal government's partial shutdown is already hitting private-sector workers and will hurt more if it continues into next week, trade associations say.Post to FacebookShutdown may idle non-federal workers next week 

 The federal government's partial shutdown is already hitting private-sector workers and will hurt more if it continues into next week, trade associations say.


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People across the U.S. say they're shocked at unexpected way the government shutdown is impacting them.
Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
The U.S. government's partial shutdown is already affecting private-sector workers and will hit harder if it goes into next week.Chief law enforcement ranger Ralph Jones advises visitors to Cabrillo National Monument that the park is closed on Tuesday in San Diego, Calif., on the first day of of the government shutdown.(Photo: John Gibbins, AP)Story HighlightsMost contractors say shutdown would hurt their businessesSome meetings with defense contractors have been canceledArkansas and Georgia among states most affected
TWEETEMAILMOREThe federal government shutdown is already affecting contractors and threatens to dampen private-sector employment, at least in the near-term, industry officials say.Twenty-nine percent of contractors say a shutdown would cause them to delay planned hiring, and 58% said it would have a negative effect on their businesses, according to a survey of 925 contractors this week by the National Association of Government Contractors.Q&A: JOBS: ENTERPRISE: One Federal Solution, which provides information technology, health care and training services to various government agencies has furloughed 107 of its 115 employees because federal officials said they're non-essential, says CEO Abdul Baytops."We're concerned about employees losing faith" in the company "even though we have no control over it," Abdul says.Advanced Systems Development, an information technology contractor, already has furloughed an employee who sets up computer networks for the Environmental Protection Agency because federal workers weren't available to approve new funding for the project, says company Chief Financial Officer Mary Lou Patel.PLAN: Daniel Stohr, spokesman for the Aerospace Industries Association, which represents defense contractors, says, "We've already seen meetings (between contractors and Defense Department officials) that have been canceled."Such cancellations could delay work on ongoing projects, such as new weapons systems or information-technology maintenance, Stohr says. Defense contract workers also could be temporarily laid off because the federal employees who supervise them are on furlough or managers aren't available to move ahead with new equipment purchases, according to the aerospace group.OBAMA: Besides the Washington, D.C., metro area, states with high concentrations of both federal and contract workers include Hawaii, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Georgia, according to Moody's Analytics.If the shutdown lasts a week or longer, as many as 250,000 to 300,000 contract workers could be affected in some way, says Fernando Galaviz, chairman of the National Federal Contractors Association. "A week would be like a bad headache," he says. "If it's more than two weeks, they can expect a lot of negative impact."Galaviz says his members are mostly small businesses that handle tasks such as computer network administration, facilities management and research.
"If we have 20 people on a network help desk, (a federal department) may reduce that to 12," he says.Construction companies that build courthouses, dredge rivers and renovate U.S. park facilities also would be hurt, according to Associated General Contractors, a trade group. Projects could be delayed because government supervisors aren't on job sites to answer critical questions or approve changes, says AGC spokesman Brian Turmail.Several thousand construction workers could be affected if the shutdown lasts at least a week, he says.Although most contract workers would be sidelined temporarily, the disruption comes at a pivotal period, with monthly job growth slowing to a pace of 148,000 the past three months from 224,000 the previous three months.Concerns about a government shutdown have largely focused on the 710,000 to 770,000 non-essential federal workers who are being furloughed, according to estimates by JPMorgan and IHS Global Insight. Each week the government is partially closed would shave 0.12% to 0.16% off annualized economic growth in the fourth quarter, the firms project. But those estimates are based on the lost wages or output of federal employees.A Moody's study that also examines the impact on contract workers and ripple effects across the economy estimates that a shutdown of even a few days would trim fourth-quarter growth by two-tenths of a percent.
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TOP VIDEOS
Chimps are capable of cooking, researchers say英语翻译Democrats rejected a Republian proposal with short-term fixes to the debt limit and the federal shutdown.(这一句with 连接的什么啊 fix to 什么作用)Manufacturing crises to extract massive concession is not how our democracy wor_百度作业帮
拍照搜题，秒出答案
英语翻译Democrats rejected a Republian proposal with short-term fixes to the debt limit and the federal shutdown.(这一句with 连接的什么啊 fix to 什么作用)Manufacturing crises to extract massive concession is not how our democracy wor
英语翻译Democrats rejected a Republian proposal with short-term fixes to the debt limit and the federal shutdown.(这一句with 连接的什么啊 fix to 什么作用)Manufacturing crises to extract massive concession is not how our democracy works
民主党拒绝了一项共和党关于短期调整债务上限的提案,随之联邦政府关门了.with是提案的内容（但有歧义）；fixes 是名词复数,指的是一系列的调整,to后面的内容是调整的对象；制造业危机所抽提的巨大让步并不是我们民主如何起作用的结果.我也有点迷惑,第一句和第二句,都需要有点背景知识.
Democrats rejected a Republian proposal with short-term fixes to the debt limit and the federal shutdown民主党拒绝了共和党建议短期解决债务上限和联邦政府的关闭Manufacturing crises to extract massive concession is not h...