Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You are here: Home / Politics / America / A Brief (Additional) Note On The Potential Shutdown

A Brief (Additional) Note On The Potential Shutdown

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I’m not sure there’s really much more that can be said about the potential government shutdown, but I promised I’d do a post on it. I’m going to make this short and sweet because today was leg day at the gym and I presently feel like this:

(Friends don’t let friends skip leg day!)

Every time we approach a potential government shutdown every government agency, department, bureau, and office runs through the same drill: preparing for the shutdown. This includes checking and reverifying that the civilian servants and contractors identified as essential or emergency essential still need to be classified that way or if others do. All hiring actions get placed on hold – from scoring of applications all the way through to on-boarding and in-processing. Hiring actions for contractors and awards of new contracts get put on hold by contracting officers (CORs). This is all tremendously expensive in terms of resources – personnel hours and the money to pay for them that are diverted every time we approach a potential shutdown. Everyone one of these short term CR/potential shutdown fights is basically Congressionally created waste, fraud, and abuse.

By the way, one of the dirty little secrets of government contracting is that a lot of these contracts, at least in the Defense and Intel sectors, are written so that the company is still going to get paid even if all of the contractors are furloughed and regardless of whether backpay is ever ultimately authorized for the specific contractors deemed essential. The companies just pocket the money. Hence contracting officers unwillingness to move hiring actions or move forward on new contract awards when facing a potential shutdown. They don’t want to have their organizations on the hook for paying for work that isn’t going to get done. So here too contracting isn’t really saving anyone any money. Finally, in regards to the contractors, if they pass another short term contract the contracting officers will still not authorize hires and on-boarding in case the government shuts down when the short term CR expires. This has wreaked havoc on a lot of people’s careers, especially those at the top of the pay scale. I’ve personally lost two full time equivalent opportunities in the past three years because of contracting officers refusing to authorize hires as a result of short term CRs.

Every agency, department, bureau, and office will have some personnel still working during the shutdown. despite the vast majority of civil servants and contractors being furloughed and put on the equivalent of unpaid leave if the government does shut down. What we don’t know, as this would be the first shutdown under the current administration is just how much proper shutdown planning has been done. Almost every Federal agency, department, bureau, and office is still missing significant numbers of senior political appointees, not to mention almost the entire tranche of the middle and low level political appointees that would and should be making a lot of these budgetary decisions at the departmental level and then pushing guidance down. Given the dearth of political appointments – both made by the administration at the one year mark and/or confirmed by the Senate – we are once again in uncharted waters. Things might go okay, especially if the shutdown is relatively short, say between 3 and 5 days. Or they could go really badly when the senior executives and senior civil servants in far too many acting leadership positions are unwilling to assume a lot of risk in making decisions regarding how to manage the Federal workforce through a shutdown and, as a result, decisions that should be made and guidance that should be given by political appointees weren’t made and wasn’t given because they haven’t been appointed for whatever reason.

I can say that it is my understanding that the VA will remain open because their funding was secured through to Fiscal Year 19 as a result of legislation signed in 2017.

Stay frosty! Or, given the weather in much of the US, stay warm.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  1. 1.

    Adam L Silverman

    Before anyone asks, I did not actually use the leg press. I did squats – 3 sets, Romanian deadlifts – 3 sets, high glute – 3 sets, adbuctors – 3 sets, adductors – 3 sets, leg extensions – 3 sets, leg curls – 3 sets. And then 30 minutes on the Helix machine at level 11.

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    Eric Deggans at NPR‏Verified account @Deggans

    Wow. Party of Five, the ’90s drama about a group of five siblings raising themselves after their parents died, will be rebooted for Freeform channel. New story features siblings raising each other after their parents are deported to Mexico. Talk about a topical subject…

  6. 6.

    justawriter

    “reeked havoc” Unless the havoc had a strong unpleasant odor, I think you meant “wreaked havoc.”
    The vocabulary nazi will go home now.

  13. 13.

    boatboy_srq

    reeked havoc

    Maybe wrought havoc, or wreaked havoc? Reeking would just be smelly.

    /pedant /grammar-Godwinist

  14. 14.

    B.B.A.

    Trump doesn’t care. He’s off to Davos to stick it to all those bankers and foreign heads of state who wouldn’t invite him when he was just a third-rate real estate mogul. He’s gonna have the shiny hologram badge and they’ll all have to kiss his ring now!

    Shutdown? What shutdown?

  15. 15.

    Peale

    @Adam L Silverman: used to be Pat Robertson’s Family Channel. Now it’s best known show is the Fosters about two lesbian mothers raising a family, including an adopted son who has been dating boys since he was 13. So sad when Jude broke up with Connor, but now he’s got Noah and there’s nothing that Pat Robertson can do about it.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    Sherrilyn Ifill‏Verified account @Sifill_LDF

    Sherrilyn Ifill Retweeted The Hill

    Also, let’s not gloss over this story. This man was dir. of external affairs (the public face) of AmeriCorps – the organization that prepares young people for community service – providing disaster relief, building homes in low-income communities, helping veterans. This is awful.

    ………………………..

    The Hill‏Verified account @thehill

    Trump appointee resigns after history of racist, sexist remarks revealed http://hill.cm/8GSAYpY

    https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/954180163645919233

  23. 23.

    B.B.A.

    @Peale: They still have to show the 700 Club every day because Pat Robertson put it in the contract when he sold it to Fox (who shortly thereafter sold it to Disney/ABC). When it became Freeform, Disney looked into buying Pat out, but decided it wasn’t worth it.

  30. 30.

    Gravenstone

    @Adam L Silverman: Leg press was the only thing that let me get decent leg definition back in college. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the same point on upper body so I was somewhat asymmetrical. Now, after decades of benign neglect, I am again symmetrical – as spheres tend to be.

  35. 35.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Because it really isn’t a very good exercise. I get far better effects from doing other exercises that cover the same muscle groups better.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    What we don’t know, as this would be the first shutdown under the current administration is just how much proper shutdown planning has been done.

    We don’t know, but I think we can make a reasonable guess.

  38. 38.

    Another Scott

    As complex as the situation you’ve outlined is, it only covers part of the complexity of the Pentagon. E.g. the Navy has several Working Capital Funds that aren’t directly funded by line items in the federal budget. So, those federal employees still work and get paid during a normal shutdown, but were subject to the 2013 furlough. And imagine being scheduled to go on TDY when the government was shutdown. Do you get to go? Nope – doesn’t matter if you’re WCF or not.

    Or so a little bird told me.

    Lots and lots of rules and exceptions and exemptions and so forth are applicable, even within the DoD.

    Schumer is proposing a ‘days long’ CR for more negotiations…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  39. 39.

    Adam L Silverman

    @rikyrah: I’ve got to say when SEALs go bad, they go really bad. You’ve got Zinke who was run out of the SEALs, you’ve got Greitens who is in a lot of trouble in MO, you’ve got this guy, you’ve got the guy who claims he shot bin Laden and wrote a book about it, which has pissed off the other members of his team including the guy who actually took the shot.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Actually I do the Romanian deadlifts because I am built in such a way that I can’t maintain form for a regular deadlift. My arms aren’t long enough to keep my back straight while holding the bar. So I either maintain proper form and bang the bar off my shins or I roll my back and do the exercise wrong. The straight leg (Romanian) deadlift resolves this problem.

  43. 43.

    Ohio Mom

    @schrodingers_cat: I @Baud:
    I tortured myself today and read the NYT’s letters. The same few (and easily refutable) talking points, over and over — because of Trump the economy is booming, ISIS is on the run, our borders are being secured, strong judges are being appointed, our taxes are going down, the rest of the world is sitting up and taking notice (well, yes they are but not in a good way).

    The only variety was that the letter writers were from all over the country.

  46. 46.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gravenstone: Round is a shape! Leg press works really well for a small group of people. For everyone else it is largely a waste. What I really wish is that the gym I work out at had a hack squat machine.

  51. 51.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: I was trying to keep the post brief and not bore everyone to tears with the minutiae. I’ve been scheduled for TDY several times as we approached a CR and had my orders cancelled as no one would provide final authorization to travel. And I’m quite aware of the Navy’s somewhat unique concerns.

  54. 54.

    Ohio Mom

    @mai naem mobile: I hope that when there is news about O.H.’s son, someone front pages it (hint, hint). I’m very busy right now and am having to skip a lot of the threads.

  56. 56.

    cain

    @Ohio Mom:

    Thank you for doing what I wouldn’t do because as you say it’s always the same info. There are some portions that is changeable but otherwise it is isn’t.

  57. 57.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Like I said, it works really well for some folks. Not so well for others. I can put over a thousand pounds on the sled. Crank out ten rep sets. Never break a sweat and never really get much out of the exercise. So I spend the time doing other things.

  58. 58.

    B.B.A.

    FYI: the House passed a bill tonight to fund the government another four weeks (i.e. through Feb 16). It includes five years of CHIP funding. No mention of DACA.

  60. 60.

    phein58

    @Another Scott: Every agency has its complexities. In our lab, if we have money from non-appropriated sources (e.g., US Postal Service, private sector royalties), you may be able to work, if the project meets certain criteria, and you can telework.

  61. 61.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Baud:
    Do the editorial letters have names and addresses? If so, then yes, the FTFNYT is doing a public service. Those houses won’t get teepee’d themselves.

  63. 63.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @B.B.A.:
    The question is will that bill pass the Senate? If the government shuts down the Republicans aren’t going to be able to successfully pin this on the Dems no matter how hard they scream and cry or how many assists they get from some in the media. They control the government. It’s on them.

    What a pathetic party; it can’t even get budgets done, the basic job of a legislator. The GOP deserves to go into the dustbin of history.

  64. 64.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @dmsilev: I can tell you right now that the Patent & Trademark Office hasn’t even received authorization to keep running off of user fees, which is the standard operating procedure during shutdown (i.e. keep going until the cash on hand runs out). I’m surprised that Big Pharma, Silicon Valley, and Disney haven’t started screaming at the Republicans in Congress to do something about that.

  66. 66.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    I have to tell you, that wasn’t what she said on last night’s news. In addition, there are witness reports that the gun went off when the cop hit the ground, as in it was an accidental shooting.

  67. 67.

    Ohio Mom

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Yes, the letters all end with the writer’s name, city and state.

    Some of them had their photos (all white of course) which is weird because since when are photos included with letters to the editors? Made it look like the local paper’s obituary page.

    I was tempted to look up the fellow from Cincinnati but the urge passed.

  68. 68.

    B.B.A.

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Signs point to no. Most Dems have said “no more continuing resolutions, full-year appropriations or nothing!” and there are a few Republican holdouts too. Maybe Mitch can scrounge up 50 votes and declare the filibuster inapplicable when a CR is about to expire and it’s the week of a new moon in January, but I doubt it.

  72. 72.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Ohio Mom:
    Wow, even photos? That’s really brave of them. I would never do that, not in a million years.

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: I’m not saying don’t do them. I’m just explaining why they don’t work for me. If they work for you, that’s great.

    As for Robertson. Sure, sure.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: Probably Juan Williams given he pulled a gun on him, which is a crime in NY City even with a NY City conceal carry permit. But the unfortunate reality is that he’s speaking to an audience of one: the President.

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    Regarding Ozark Hillbiilly, I think I recall first hearing that his younger son was “run over” by a car with both legs broken seriously. Not too long after that I think we heard that he was doing OK either in surgery or post his (first of several I assume) surgery.

    More lucky than in the past I think he said. All vaguely recalled tho. Hoping hard for the best for the young’en.

  80. 80.

    Ohio Mom

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: You are not an idiot like people who support Trump so proudly that they need it have it printed in the Newspaper of Record.

    Over thirty years ago, when it was not as common as it is now, one of my cousins got herself pregnant on purpose via a pretty anonymous one-night stand. She was a single school teacher in her thirties, living in Brooklyn, who wanted to have a child and that was the method she chose.

    She joined a support group for single moms and my aunt and uncle were besides themselves when the group was featured in a NYT’s article and my cousin was quoted.

    On one hand, their shameful circumstances were there in the hometown paper for all to see; on the other, their daughter was quoted in THE New York Times.

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    @satby:

    I have a vague (and possibly incorrect) memory that Ozark doesn’t use a smart phone, so maybe he doesn’t have ready Internet access.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    Phew. Mom just called with a computer problem. Diagnosing and walking her through fixing from 6000 miles away is not my favorite thing. But it’s resolved.

  84. 84.

    Ohio Mom

    @satby: I am going for No news is good news too. It can be pretty hectic when a family member is in the hospital. He warned us he’d be incognito for a while.

    @Adam L Silverman: As always, I knew you would come through.

    Now it is my bedtime. I can tell it’s getting late because I can hear the squirrels in the attic. They are very active every night around this time.

    The critter control company set some traps earlier this week, and refilled the bait today, but these guys are either too smart or not hungry : (

  85. 85.

    efgoldman

    @NotMax:

    Diagnosing and walking her through fixing from 6000 miles away is not my favorite thing.

    Are you one of those guys that calls me every couple of weeks offering to fix my computer ifc I just give him my card number?
    I told one guy my drive was spewing green and purple smoke and loading p0rn sites faster than i could close them.
    I told another guy i used an abacus.
    I asked one for his address so I’d know where to send the fraud police.

  86. 86.

    Amir Khalid

    @Adam L Silverman:
    At least see the movies. How else are you going to understand the Harry Potter references I like to make in comments? Seriously, the Harry Potter series is well worth reading/seeing. The movies are quite faithful to the books; JK Rowling has executive producer credit on nearly all of them.

  87. 87.

    efgoldman

    @Ohio Mom:

    these guys are either too smart or not hungry

    Scatter moth balls around the attic. The smell will drive them away. Raccoons, too. Then be sure to find and seal all the openings.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    @efgoldman

    Had eight (8!) calls from one of those scam places yesterday. Probably because on the first one I played so dumb that the idiot who called actually started cursing at me, which opened the door for me to let loose with an elaborate torrent of invective right back at him.

  91. 91.

    FlyingToaster

    @B.B.A.: And hence, CBN -> ABC Family -> Freeform remains blocked on all of our cable boxes.

    In other weird cable rebrandings, Spike TV became Paramount Network today.

  93. 93.

    SgrAstar

    @Adam L Silverman: Too bad, Adam. They’re lovely. Rowling’s theme is the fight against fascism, emphasizing that individuals can join together to resist effectively. In my experience kids really resonate with the story, and they’re able to draw parallels with current events. I’m a huge fan.

  96. 96.

    efgoldman

    @satby:

    caller ID was created to never have to answer a phone again if you don’t recognize the number.

    1) I enjoy hanging up on the occasional real person (not the bots) (2) The spamholes are spoofing local number, now. We have lots of local contacts (girl scouts, church, medical professionals….)

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    @SgrAstar: I’ve only read the first book, so far, but I really enjoyed it – much more than I thought I would before I started it. J read all of them and loved them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    @NotMax:

    I’ve been tempted to pretend that their headset isn’t working right and keep them on the phone by claiming I can’t hear them, and then I can only hear them intermittently, oh, wait, now I can hear you … no, it’s gone again, you’re going to have to repeat yourself.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I had a doctor’s office (not my regular doctor) that refused to leave voicemails, so I had no idea they were trying to reach me until they sent a letter via snail mail. That was really annoying. ?

  101. 101.

    Jay S

    @efgoldman:

    Scatter moth balls around the attic

    Don’t do this. It is illegal in most jurisdictions and can be problematic in getting rid of the odor after the fact The house I bought had squirrels in the attic and blown in insulation. One of the previous owners kids did this before the sale and they spent days trying to clean up after the fact.

  102. 102.

    Steeplejack

    @satby:

    So true. I never answer calls from unknown numbers. They can leave a message and I’ll get back to them.

    Although . . . once every six months or so I do answer an unknown call, usually because it’s a recurring number and I start wondering if it’s a legitimate caller with a valid reason for not leaving a message, like, I don’t know, maybe the housecat invoked HIPAA and told the vet’s office not to leave a message that could remotely compromise her health-care privacy.

    Anyway, I answered one of those calls just a couple of days ago, and of course it was the usual bullshit call: a perky, rushed female voice saying “We are responding to your request for information about health insurance [bullshit!], and I just need to ask you a few questions before I forward you to a customer representative,” etc. I literally could not get a word in edgewise and just hung up on her. So I guess I’m good for another six months of not answering unknown calls.

  103. 103.

    Gelfling 545

    @efgoldman: A friend at my Tai Chi club got scamed by one of those purporting to be from Microsoft. I asked her if she had ever in her life heard of anyone talking to an actual person at Microsoft. She acknowledged that yes, it was pretty unlikely that they’d start calling people.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    @SgrAstar: And I am sincerely happy you like Rowlings’ work. It is not my thing. I read enough of the actual, historic stuff for work.

  105. 105.

    Gelfling 545

    @Steeplejack: T-mobile has got a new feature that shows the caller as Likely Scam if it is a number that has been reported in connection with scam activity and gives you the option to block it entirely. I’ve taken advantage of that feature quite a bit lately.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack: @satby: I emailed him at the address he uses to comment here. As you know that may or may not be a legit email address. And it may or may not even get checked regularly if it is legit. I also pinged a couple of the NoLa jackals and asked if they’d be willing to provide local guidance if he made contact and needed info on places to eat, get essentials, things like that. I have nothing to report though. Haven’t heard back.

  108. 108.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I haven’t read the Narnia books since I was 7. I thought the first movie was okay. The second was meh. And the third was better in that it was, at least, entertaining.

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Steeplejack: The worst ones are every year I get a call at my cell phone number for my late father. One from the Florida Highway Patrol fund and one from the Fallen Police Officers of Florida fund. My Dad died in 2003. He was the most senior criminologist in the state of Florida. He probably taught more cops, local and state, than anyone else in the state over a 35 plus year career. Not counting all the consulting he did with local and state law enforcement. No matter what I do I can’t get them to fix this or take my Dad’s name and my name off the list. And since they come from Blocked Number, which in my line of work can be an official work call, I always wind up taking the call if I’m available to do so.

  113. 113.

    Steeplejack

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And since they come from Blocked Number, which in my line of work can be an official work call, I always wind up taking the call if I’m available to do so.

    That’s a bummer. I used to answer unknown calls because it could be a software client in extremis, but as I continue my slide into irrelevance that issue has mostly gone away.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:
    I don’t need permission nor do I need an opening when someone calls to scam me. I’ve had one, a car warranty company from NC, that was calling regularly until I answered one day. I believe I set a new record for how many times I could say fuck and assholes in one sentence. Haven’t heard a peep since.

  118. 118.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Have you read some of my comments here? EFG and I seem to be known for our outstanding grammar and language usage. I gained mine from working in machine shops and the navy. Once was in a contest, in the navy of course, to see how many times fuck could be used in a sentence. The sentence had to make logical sense use proper grammar and have a point. IOW you couldn’t just say fuck a hundred times. I won.

  119. 119.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Ruckus: I grew up on a sailboat. My Dad, despite the PhD and the professorship had grown up on the kill floor of a specialty meat packing plant. And was a long time union guy. I deployed to Iraq with a tanker brigade. To quote Robert B. Parker’s Spenser: “I’m a hooligan with a good vocabulary”.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Sounds like that could have been a graduate course in colorful language. Only degree that I hold.
    BTW I owned a sailboat, and not one of those little things that can be towed behind your car. Other than the marine store bill the sailboat didn’t come close to being a decent school in swearing. Not even close to one of those big gray things with lifers and officers on board.

  123. 123.

    phein55

    @SgrAstar: I have to ask: Have you read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality? Google it if you haven’t. It’s the only fanfic endorsed by JK Rowling herself, and explores the appeal of fascism, among other things.

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