Social Security and other federal agencies are operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR) allowing them to spend money at the same rate as during the prior fiscal year. The current CR expires on March 15.
Republicans in the House of Representatives have released their version of a new full year CR. It gives the Social Security Administration $14.2 billion for operations, which is down by about $100 million from the prior FY. Of course, this is effectively a greater cut when inflation is considered. That bill's chances in the House are uncertain.
However, no appropriations bill can pass the Senate without Democratic votes or ending the filibuster. The price for Democratic support in the Senate is an end to the DOGE reign of terror, which many Republican Senators might also want, even though they won't say it publicly. A government shutdown looks inevitable and it could be a long one. I don't know about the President or Republicans in Congress but this is a fight to the death for Democrats.
Remember that while most Social Security employees are deemed essential and will stay on the job, eventually the pay checks stop in a very long shutdown. You can't get pay for the time period after the shutdown begins until some sort of funding bill is passed. Federal employees will have to figure out when that will occur.
Hovering over this is the claim of the President that he is under no obligation to spend appropriated funds — recission. This is almost certainly unconstitutional but that’s not stopping him at the moment. It’s not clear that he will obey the Supreme Court when they finally tell him explicitly to knock it off as I expect.
32 comments:
Have democratic senators said they are drawing a line on DOGE? I can see many of them wanting to keep the government open and fighting for this for another day. I’d rather them take the stance now.
It is a fight to the death for Democrats. Unfortunately, most Senate Democrats are so out of touch that they don’t realize it, and will capitulate and pass the CR anyway. May they all be primaried and removed from office forever!
The "obligation to spend appropriated funds" is objectively absurd. Its intended to be the limit, not the mandate.
On practical terms, it's like saying I budget $1000 a month for food and I am required to spend every penny. So, I avoid any deals and shop at retailers who charge inflated prices. At the end, when the final budget comes due, I load up the cart with candy, chips and cookies to burn every cent. This is the entrenched mindset of government spending habits.
Wonder if DOGE can continue if the government is shut down or with everyone gone they go ham and just destroy what is left. Interesting week, on tap. Just reaffirms my retirement plans.
I wonder how that will affect the Vera's and the voluntary separation payouts?
>eventually the pay checks stop in a very long shutdown.
The paychecks stop, full stop. Employees would get paid for any and all work completed up to the CR deadline of when funding stops (So 03/14/2025 at 11:59), but would NOT be paid for any work thereafter, until a new CR or budget is passed and they are allotted backpay and normal paychecks resume.
I will put in my $0.02 (before they get rid of the penny) that dems roll over on the budget and sign off on the continuing resolution through the rest of the fiscal year trying to avoid even more chaos. The lack of spine is why they lost to this regime twice. Please applaud as the country goes into recession or worse.
Every shutdown is going to be a long one until it either doesn't happen or is a short one. Maybe this will be longer but hysterical warnings aren't helpful.
Shut ‘er down! Draw a line in the sand! No deal until Doge takes a hike and the illegal terminations stop!
No, you're framing it incorrectly. In practical terms, it's like saying you budget $1,000 a month for food and Trump decides that the $800 should be spent on gold-plated cattle prods for ICE, and $200 should be spent on IKEA furniture for the DOGE dorms.
The law now requires that furloughed federal employees be paid when there is a new budget. Federal employees should no be pawns in budget battles!
watching the Dow drop more than 1100 points today and wonder how that privatized retirement is going to work out.
By all means, shut it down. A shutdown will do more to cut govt spending than DOGE would accomplish.
It always goes back up.
Yup, good one. In order to stop massive cuts to the government, just shut it down. Really makes sense.
Now we have Sleazy E going on 19th Century Fox and lying his butt off about alleged fraud he discovered in Social Security...
https://bsky.app/profile/justinbaragona.bsky.social/post/3lk2govo5dk2s
Elon Musk says "10% of federal expenditures" are due to people having fake Social Security numbers, claiming it is "half a trillion dollars."
As someone who worked at the agency and who handled program integrity issues for 30 years I can honestly state this is a CENSORED lie!!!!
Many feds are at a point where they support a shutdown.
Being a claimant, this is causing undue stress and anxiety, I think that it is horrible they are not taking into account the claimants feelings on this matter. If the gov't shuts down, it's on the current administrations back, and it doesn't look good to the people of the United states that vote for their congressional representatives. I can definitely see some political fallout if the gov't shuts down....
As Andrew Mellon, the only Secretary Of The Treasury who had three presidents serve under him said, "In a depression, wealth goes back to its natural owners!"...
No one care if the Gov shuts down, essential employees continue to work, Claims continue to be processed, beneficiaries continue to receive checks. Fear mongering. Well, other than the Gov employees that work with IOUs. But no one cares about feds anyway.
In a government shutdown, the claimants rarely see the TRUE effects of the shutdown. That's because the offices are still open to the public, most workloads continue to be processed, claims continue to be processed. When I worked in field offices, during a shutdown, management would tell us to NOT clear redeterminations (RZs) which were the reviews done on claimants that were receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The SSI claimant didn't have a clue that this was happening, and if they did would have no clue what that actually meant. A true government shut down should be that offices are closed and NOTHING gets done until a budget is passed. Why is it that members of congress can retain their jobs for not doing their jobs in a timely manner of passing a damn budget? Every year, it's something that has to take place. An employee would be fired if year after year of being required to do something that they just don't do it or it's done half assed. I still don't understand why there are so many spineless men and women in congress.
It's actually the employees of the federal government that suffer the most in government shutdowns. That's because they don't get paid during the shutdown. Pay is only received after the shutdown ends. Makes zero sense.
How does congress and the republicans sleep at night? What does Trump have over you? All it would take is a small handful of morally conscience people to stand up to Trump (who is really a BIG BULLY) to put a stop to the senseless gouging of the government, especially the VA and SSA. Try it, it just may work. Stop being doormats.
“There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots, and I want hereafter to be ranked with the latter. “ Ulysses S. Grant. SHUT IT DOWN!!
3:50 do you understand that in a shutdown, even the furloughed employees (i.e., those who don't even show up at all) get paid despite doing absolutely zero work? What a great 5 points email "I did nothing because of the shutdown and I got paid anyway." Fantastic governance, and an amazing way to show it's absolutely not about eliminating waste for people like you. No, it's simply about breaking everything to a point it can't be fixed.
More accurately the exempted employees and FRONT LINE workers still work until the shut down ends and don’t get paid until it is. Try mixing in reality to your rhetoric and see how quickly your argument falls apart. We keep the system working.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me. - Martin Niemöller
Many hundreds of front line SSA employees, including myself , have accepted the buyout offer for 20 thousand and a month of administrative leave. I wonder if we will get our promised money on time. Next week is our last week of work then we go on administrative leave.
We hear the same warnings every year, that there will be a long shutdown. Then the two sides compromise and there is no shutdown at all. That will likely be the result this time as well.
Regarding the $100M budget cut, even conservatively the 7000 fired or retired SSA employees would save at least $500M in salaries, more than making up for the budget cut.
9:57 they have been coming for private sector workers for decades, you think this round of feds being dismissed with no reason is a brand new phenomenon? They have been firing private workers with no cause for decades. Your entitlement is showing.
916 why do you want a race to the bottom? Instead of saying federal employees are entitled, why aren't you asking why all workers don't have these benefits? You don't ask this because big business has primed you to hate instead of ask hard questions.
And the traitors = MAGA who are literally destroying the structures of our Democracy.
Imagine your HOA membership votes on a project to upgrade the community pool. They take your dues, but don’t do the improvements because the president and treasurer never use the pool and decide it’s “wasteful spending”. Maybe they just don’t like the pool contractor. Maybe they don’t like people who use the pool. Point is, the voting members voted for and appropriated funds for a project and officers of the board refused to expend the funds and make the improvements.
That’s rescission.
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