Brain worms. The federal budget isn’t like family budgets. This kind of knee jerk bumper sticker analysis shouldn’t be taken seriously. Even family budgets go into deficit for things like mortgages or college tuition.
Government spending, just like personal spending, can be an investment that pays for itself down the line. America has collected massive dividends on government spending. Look at all the products that wouldn’t exist today without NASA research. Look at contributions to medicine, including RNA vaccines that allowed rapid development for COVID-19. How about funding for the trans continental railroad or the interstate highway system? Investing in youth to make sure they get decent nutrition and a solid education pays back in spades down the line.
I’m not saying government waste isn’t a thing. I’m definitely not saying that graft and corruption aren’t a serious problem. Calling for cuts on one program or another, or advocating for more effective spending is perfectly reasonable. What’s ridiculous are the Republican top-down cuts that don’t bother distinguishing frivolous spending from solid investment.
Nobody will ever balance the budget, they are there to transfer tax payer money into pockets of the rich. They will run this bitch until it blows up. System has no off ramp, everyone who comes in takes more and more.
Social conditions are rapidly deteriorating and barely anything is being done about it. This policy should tell anyone with two brain cells who is running this country and for what purpose.
We pay similar to taxes to EU but barely get any social services.
Every major city has 10s of thousands of homeless living in tents, and likely even more people living in cars who we don't see.
Americans used to make fun of shanty towns in BR and MX 🤡
My understanding is that they continue to get paid during shutdowns because it prevents rich representatives from essentially holding the less wealthy representatives to ransom. Otherwise, it just turns into a game of "who has the biggest bank account/has other sources of income and can wait out the other side the longest?" which could certainly be a concern here.
I agree that trying to tackle shutdowns and prevent any representatives from being financially rewarded while they're an obstacle to progress seems like a good move, but I feel like there probably needs to be a more nuanced solution to it than this.
Congressional benefits should be Medicare/Medicaid. Exceptions for the normal requirements to allow for all elected officials.
That is the government provided healthcare solution that they have determined is good enough for the American people, that’s what they should get. They should not have their own policy that is vastly superior to average citizens.
medicaid and medicare (with supplement and drug coverage) should be the bare minimum baseline provided for every resident (that's right, not just 'citizens') of this nation, without out-of-pocket expense. just bernie's 4% on portions of all income over something like 3-4x the poverty line.
I’m not sure how much is scripted, but I remember a few undercover boss situations that left the CEO a new appreciation of their workers situations. Kinda feels like capitalist propaganda. But my point is, that sometimes you need to experience it for yourself. It’d be nice if they had empathy, but I think the people who get elected have replaced empathy with hubris.
“because it’s ridiculous that we still get paid while folks like TSA workers are asked to work without a paycheck.”
According to the bill, the paycheck of each member of Congress would be temporarily cut “one day’s worth of pay” for every day the government is out of operation. If it ultimately passes, members of Congress will receive the full amount that was deducted from their paychecks at the end of the congressional session.
Do “folks like TSA workers” get the full amount that was deducted returned at the end of the confessional session?
Typically government employees have been given back pay after shutdowns, but it’s not guaranteed. It has to be included in the spending bill that ends the shutdown.
ETA: as noted below, a law was passed in 2019 guaranteeing back pay for federal employees. Federal contractors are still not guaranteed back pay.
No and they dont get kickbacks or sell stock when they need extra cash
EDIT: ok we can cross no off the list. The politicians worth tens of millions will finally know what its like to be the average federal worker being furloughed. /s
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (G.E.F.T.A.) requires retroactive pay and leave accrual for federal employees affected by the furlough as a result of the 2018–19 federal government shutdown and any future lapses in appropriations.
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (G.E.F.T.A.) requires retroactive pay and leave accrual for federal employees affected by the furlough as a result of the 2018–19 federal government shutdown and any future lapses in appropriations.
Thank you! I’m glad to see furloughed employees do get their missed pay, but it still causes more suffering to people who work paycheck to paycheck, than it does to wealthy politicians.
At some point. The usda inspectors that used to be at my job had to wait years to actually get their back pay from republican bullshit shutdowns during obamas term.
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