Why govt shutdown 2011

Final deal hinges on resolution of two main sticking points: a proposed prohibition on funds to fight the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico going to Planned Parenthood and the inclusion of funds to address the Flint, MI water crisis. With unified Republican control of Congress and the White House on the horizon for the first time in a decade, the House and Senate opt to punt the remainder of their appropriations work for fiscal year again, this time until the end of April.

The later spring date gives the new administration the opportunity to weigh in on spending priorities while also accommodating a potentially busy congressional agenda—including Senate action on cabinet nominations—in early Conflict over the length of an extension of benefits for coal miners prolongs debate in the Senate, threatening a brief government shutdown.

Reynolds and Philip A. Wallach Thursday, December 8, Molly E. Gale, et al. Sarah A. Isabel V. Sawhill, et al. Henry J. William G. Aaron Mr. Philip A. Wallach Republicans' leverage from debt ceiling vastly overrated Philip A. Wallach, The Hill. O'Hanlon and William A. Mann and Norman J.

Wallach, National Affairs. Elliot, et al. Rivlin What's in a Deal? Wallach and William A. Binder, Washington Post. Further Reading DHS shutdown? Further Reading The debt ceiling, yet again Philip A. Mann Does Speaker Boehner's resignation reduce the likelihood of a government shutdown?

Further Reading The budget showdown: How did we get here? I think there are two channels to think about. The first is a reputational one, where allies around the world look at the United States and say, "Gee their political system is so dysfunctional they can't even keep their government open, so what kind of a reliable ally can they be?

I don't want to overstate that because obviously in a government essential personnel including the armed forces are not going to be furloughed and any potential shutdown is probably not going to last very long, but I think there is some additional cost to American reputation — its reliability and competence.

Quick answer: Yes. You need to finish your taxes on time postmarked April 18 in order to not incur a penalty for filing late. However, officials familiar with plans warned privately that the IRS would cease processing refunds for paper-submitted tax returns. The National Journal has a round-up here. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said he received an email at 4am Friday morning indicating that Republicans were backing away from a deal they had reached the night before on how much money to cut from the budget.

Reid said that he and Speaker John Boehner had reached a deal on the spending part of the dispute during the White House negotiating session Thursday night.

But he said Republicans later said the deal was off. A spokesman for Mr. Boehner disputed Mr Reid's comments, saying that the parties never settled on a funding level that both sides could agree on.

Will there be a deal? The battle over the budget has seen a revival of the culture wars of old, with negotiations over a shutdown that could put , federal workers temporarily out of work coming down to a dispute over abortion. The leadership of the Republican party has made a block on federal funding for Planned Parenthood , which also offers services such as birth control and cancer screening, a requirement of approving the budget.

For those non-US readers who aren't familiar with Planned Parenthood, here's the organisation's own description :. Planned Parenthood is America's most trusted provider of reproductive health care. Our skilled health care professionals are dedicated to offering men, women, and teens high-quality, affordable medical care. One in five American women has chosen Planned Parenthood for health care at least once in her life.

The heart of Planned Parenthood is in the local community. Our 84 unique, locally governed affiliates nationwide operate more than health centers, which reflect the diverse needs of their communities. These health centers provide a wide range of safe, reliable health care — and more than 90 percent is preventive, primary care, which helps prevent unintended pregnancies through contraception, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screen for cervical and other cancers.

Caring physicians, nurse practitioners, and other staff take time to talk with clients, encouraging them to ask questions in an environment that millions have grown to trust. More information [pdf] here. Planned Parenthood has become a symbol of the kind of government spending that fiscal conservatives reject. Conservatives have argued, roughly forever, that such women should be cut off from any federal spending, with the hope that deprivation will force them to marry for sustenance.

If women can avoid childbirth, they're less needy, and in the conservative imagination, that much more likely to avoid getting married for support. The fact that Planned Parenthood touches on the anti-sex faction of the Republican party is an added bonus, ensuring that they'll have rabid support from anti-choicers.

The first question soldiers stationed in Iraq asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates during his Thursday stop had to do with military pay. Gates said if the government shutdown begins on Friday and lasts for one week, troops would get half a paycheck midmonth. If it continues from April 15 to April 20, he said, troops would not get a paycheck. In that scenario, all troops eventually would be back-paid in full for the affected time, Gates said.

The Think Progress blog has more on this subject. Planned Parenthood's director Cecile Richards is interviewed by the Huffington Post about being used as a political football by Republicans:. Richards said she is frustrated that the Planned Parenthood rider is being misleadingly portrayed as a fight against "abortion funding," when so many patients in rural and medically underserved communities depend on Planned Parenthood clinics as a primary health provider.

Women and men of all parties and all walks of life are concerned about these kinds of efforts to play politics with women's health care access. The New York Times compares the two positions :. In a terse statement to reporters, the speaker of the House, John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, said there was "only one reason we do not have an agreement yet, and that is spending," and asked, "When will the White House and when will Senate Democrats get serious about cutting spending?

Moments later, Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, the majority leader, said the two sides were in agreement on dollar figures, and then offered a long, scathing criticism of Mr. Boehner and House Republicans, accusing them of wanting to shut down the federal government by insisting on cutting funds for women's heath services.

Reid said on the Senate floor. Well, if you want a visa to visit, work or study in the US, as of Monday US embassies around the world will not taking or processing applications — if there is a shutdown. Michele Bachmann — the highly conservative Republican from Minnesota — thinks the current budget fight is small potatoes :. Either way, it's not enough. We should be playing "big ball.

We should be defunding ObamaCare, but we're not. Fox News also goes one up on the other cable news channels by showing a countdown clock down to tenths of a second. It makes it more exciting, obviously. Update : Beck is appearing on the O'Reilly Factor tonight, discussing "his future". The District of Columbia's government closes along with the federal government in the event of a shutdown, as the New Yorker's blog points out :. If Congress fails to reach a compromise on the budget tonight, we residents of DC will not have our trash picked up.

We won't be able to use our public libraries because they'll all be closed. We won't be able to conduct any business at the DMV, because it won't be open, either. On the plus side, we can park anywhere we want, because parking enforcement will be suspended. That's because in budgetary impasses like this one, the city of Washington DC is considered a federal agency. Like other federal agencies, it will be allowed to maintain essential functions — the fire and police departments will not be affected, for example, Nor will public schools, though a lot of parents were confused on that point this week.

But otherwise, DC will be shuttered along with the federal government. We also can't take our children to the zoo or the swimming pools because they are also closed. Time to move to Virginia. One Tea Party activist even accuses Michele Bachmann of going soft :. But the tea party movement is taking a hard line on the need for deep spending cuts, and Meckler said Bachmann's comments have his group's membership "flipping out.

Are you officially an "essential" government employee? Well, now you can buy a t-shirt advertising it to the world and rub it in to your "nonessential" colleagues! I swear to God.

Congress missed the deadline tonight for action on a catch-all spending bill needed to finance the Government in the next two and a half months, even though House and Senate conferees adopted a compromise measure resolving differences in the legislation approved by each chamber.

The House and Senate will not act on the measure until Friday. Congressional leaders barred a late-night session because of major social events tonight by both Republicans and Democrats. Why: This dispute concerned money both the House and Senate wanted for a public works jobs program, which Reagan threatened to veto. Why: A variety of issues this time: House Democrats wanted more education funding, more aid for Israel and Egypt, less aid to Syria and El Salvador, and less defense spending than Reagan did.

The two parties reached a compromise in which the MX missile was funded, and Democrats got a lot less money for education and secured their defense and foreign cuts, along with a ban on oil and gas drilling on federal animal refuges. And this time, , workers were furloughed.

Why: House Democrats were pushing a number of White House-opposed provisions, including expansion of Aid to Families With Dependent Children, the name used at the time for welfare. About , workers were furloughed for half a day. Why: Congressional Democrats were resisting further funding for the Contras in Nicaragua, and insisted on reinstating the Fairness Doctrine, a Federal Communications Commission rule that had recently been abandoned, which required broadcasters to show balanced perspectives on political issues.

Why: Bush pledged to veto any continuing resolution that did not come with a plan to reduce the deficit. The House tried to override his veto and failed, forcing a shutdown in which millions of workers were furloughed. The House and Senate agreed to a joint budget resolution outlining a declining deficit, and Bush signed a continuing resolution. Why: Gingrich and Dole sent Clinton a continuing resolution including hikes to Medicare premiums, rollbacks of environmental regulations, and a requirement to balance the budget within seven years.

Clinton vetoed it, and the government went into shutdown. The shutdown ended with a deal among the three leaders to fund the government at 75 percent levels for four weeks so that negotiations could keep going.

Clinton acceded to the seven-year balanced budget requirement. About , employees were furloughed. Republicans eventually caved after 21 days, and Clinton then proposed a plan that the CBO agreed balanced the budget. Some , workers were furloughed, in the longest shutdown in history.

Why: Ted Cruz, basically. While House Republicans, led by Boehner, had pressured the White House into agreeing to lower levels of discretionary spending , and conservatives in the House led by Rep. It was set to roll out the following year, and conservatives, most vocally led by Cruz and Heritage Action , were desperate to stop it before it gained beneficiaries who could defend it politically. Enough House conservatives got on board with the plan to make it impossible to pass a continuing resolution, and the government shut down.

After 17 days, Boehner folded and passed a funding bill that did not defund Obamacare and that most of his caucus opposed.