The Looming Government Shutdown

Congress has until midnight on March 5 to come up with some sort of continuing resolution to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. If this does not happen, the federal government will shut down. This means that public employees stop working and get no pay. This also means that Medicare claims and social security checks stop getting processed. People who receive Social Security Disability Insurance will not receive their payments. Just as many people are unsatisfied with the current state of our politics many more will grow dissatisfied with a halt in government services.

I wish I could say this shutdown was unlikely or just a possibility, but I can't. The aggressively conservative makeup of the House of Representatives has passed a resolution that the Senate cannot pass. Any amendments made in the Senate will likely be rejected in the House. A shutdown is not only possible, it's probable.

For the first time in recent history, there are a significant amount of freshman lawmakers who do not care about getting re-elected and simply want to cut government spending at any political cost. And as they say in Washington, there is nothing more dangerous and unpredictable than a lawmaker who is willing to lose his or her job.

As frustrating as our government and politics can be, no government seems to be an unfavorable alternative. It happened in 1995 when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich went head-to-head with President Clinton in one of the more memorable political showdowns in recent history. The inability to agree on a budget led to a shutdown which caused major public outcry. Gingrich buckled under falling approval ratings and compromised to get the government running again. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton went on to easily win re-election the following year.

The first week in March will be a whirlwind in Washington D.C. Expect bold rhetoric from politicians on both sides of the aisle. My fellow social security disability lawyers and I will be watching the news closely to follow developments as they happen. If you're one to usually be annoyed with politics, make sure you stay away from cable news. If you're like me and enjoy the ongoing narrative of our political system, make sure you're stocked up on popcorn because it should be quite a week.