People who live in the metro Washington area are pretty hard to rattle. In a sense, anything inside the 66-mile asphalt circle called The Beltway is a target with the U.S. Capitol, White House, Pentagon or CIA (to mention a few) the bull’s eye. But like folks in earthquake-prone areas on the West Coast, we shoulder on. Except when the House and/or Senate hold a rare Monday session. Now that scares us.

Except for a few statesmen(women) whose names escape me, most people elected (or appointed) to the House or Senate spend lots and lots, and lots, of time trying to get reelected. Hence the TWT Club (which stands for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) the three workdays you can typically count on most times. This election year has been different. Congress has taken what may be a record number of breaks, some for very extended periods. Now, days from the end of the current fiscal year, they are getting serious. And down to business. Sort of.

Once again Congress has failed to appropriate funds to operate most government operations, although it did give special treatment to the Legislative Branch appropriations package that, not by coincidence, includes themselves. As for most other federal operations, including places like the Defense Department, Homeland Security, IRS and other sort of important functions, Congress agreed in a rare Friday session last week to convene an equally rare Monday session. That was yesterday.

The shutdown plan de jour, as of last week, was to maybe approve a short-term CR (continuing resolution) to keep the government running in fiscal year 2017, which begins Saturday. By short-term they mean short-term. One of the plans was to approve a CR that would run through Dec. 9. Once approved (and if approved) that would allow agencies to carry on until just before Christmas when Congress (presumably) would/will tackle it again. It could also put a stint into holiday planning for lots of feds. People would be asking questions like will I have a job before and after Christmas? If the government is shut down, will I eventually get paid for not working? And if so, when? Can I tell the landlord, mortgage company and gas, water and electric people to hold on until Congress gets its act togather. And will they be patient?

If your non-federal friends, neighbors and relatives don’t understand why threats of a shutdown (such as the one in 2013) rattle your cage ask them this:

What if you were an ordinary mortal (not a civil servant) and the board of directors of your company couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t do their jobs? Like keeping your factory or workplace open. And paying you on time. Or at all. What if you knew, from past experience, that you might have to leave your home or apartment or condo? For an unknown period of time. You’d need to prep it to be vacant, (turn off water, adjust thermostat, pre-pay bills, make sure everything was locked up tight) for an indeterminate amount of time. Then, when you came back, you’d have other things to deal with. Including things like eating. That’s sort of what feds face with every shutdown threat.

Some people blame Congress. Others the White House. Some (more correctly) both. But the sad fact is that they — a majority of members in both the House and Senate — never seem to learn.

Equally sad: Just a few Tuesdays from today (Nov. 8) most of us will go to the polls and if past performance is any guide, we will return to office 90 percent of the people we complain about to their current jobs.

And if they “avert” the pending shutdown save this column and your shutdown-instructions because you will be needing them again.

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

Hatch, New Mexico is considered the “Chile capital of the World” due to the wide variety of peppers grown there.

Source:  Wikipedia

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