Cog wrote:My best estimate is another two weeks but in no event lasting longer than the end of January. My reasoning is that when those 800,000 federal employees haven't been paid for a month, the drama that is created will force the two sides to make a deal. Already TSA workers are calling off sick instead of reporting to work as they are required to do. This will spread to other agencies.
Cog wrote:I'm not hugely sympathetic to federal workers on this issue. In the private sector we are subject to layoffs and outright firing at any moment. That is with no back pay either. With shutdowns in the past, federal workers receive back pay even if they don't work as essential personnel. I mean seriously, a person can't live without one paycheck before his financial life is over?
evilgenius wrote: So, while he may not be into making it "so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub," he may be into making it cheaper for business.
Cog wrote:
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, costs an average of around $4.8 billion per month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But because of the government shutdown, the program has only $3 billion in emergency reserves for February.
Cog wrote:There remains a problem apart from the federal worker bees. The SNAP program, otherwise known as food stamps, was funded for January but not completely for February. I doubt those who get food stamps will be quite so understanding about the EBT cards not getting fully recharged on February 1st. Now how that plays out and which party would be blamed for it is another matter. I have no doubt the MSM will parade endless "starving" children across our TV screens to enhance our outrage.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pr ... ll-n955136
Millions of Americans could face going without the benefit that allows them to purchase food if the government shutdown continues into February.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, costs an average of around $4.8 billion per month, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But because of the government shutdown, the program has only $3 billion in emergency reserves for February.
More than 19 million households in the United States receive food stamps, accounting for nearly 39 million people. Each household receives on average $245.28 per month.
But because of the shutdown, USDA has no money to pay for the program in the ensuing months. The agency also had to furlough approximately 95 percent of Food and Nutrition Services, the office that oversees the SNAP program.
The White House and the USDA did not respond to requests for comment about their plans to address the shortfall, but experts say there is cause for concern for the millions potentially impacted.
If the $1.8 billion shortfall for February benefits were spread evenly across the 19 million households that receive SNAP benefits, each would see a cut of about $90 per month for their overall grocery budget, according to Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
“There’s going to be rioting in the streets when they cut the stamps off,” Powell said. “Get your timber ready.”
Plantagenet wrote:My friends who work for the feds are ecstatic with the shut down. For them, its just more vacation time. A few are designated as "essential" and come into the office but it doesn't have to be the same ones every day. So the first week some people were "essential" and in office while the rest took extra vacation, and the next week some others will be the "essential ones while the rest take more vacation, and so on.
By swapping off who is essential week by week, it allows the fed employees to swap off taking 1-2-week-long mini-vacations to Hawaii etc.
Cheers!
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Plantagenet wrote:The taxpayer is paying 5 billions dollars a month for FOOD STAMPS and Nancy Pelosi won't spend 5 billion dollars on border security!!!!?????!!!!
For heaven sakes....that is so wrong.
Maybe Trump could trade Pelosi 5 billion for the border wall for 5 billion for one month of food stamps?
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