Scare tactics: Under a government “shutdown,” the government doesn’t shut down!

The Truth About Government Shutdowns

April 9th, 2011 James Simpson

JAMES SIMPSON: Under a government “shutdown,” which even the media is beginning to call “partial shutdown,” a certain number of employees from each agency remain on the job. These employees are “exempt” from the shutdown. The media and their Democrats would have you believe that all but a few employees go home, with dire consequences to follow, while anarchist Republican legislators line the hallways cheering: “Don’t let the door hit you on the rear on the way out.”

As described in an earlier post, nothing could be further from the truth. Social Security checks will continue to be mailed, ships will sail and planes will fly. Most people won’t know the difference.

The table included here proves the point. (Click on the picture to enlarge) It was taken from the appendix of a Department of Homeland Security document titled, “Procedures Relating to a Federal Funding Hiatus,” dated April 8, 2011 – i.e. today. The “DHS Component” column indicates the acronym for the relevant agency, eg USSS = United States Secret Service; FLETC = Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, ICE = Immigration and Customs Enforcement, etc. The chart indicates that DHS has a total of 222,950 employees. It also indicates that of these, 189,362 are exempt. In In other words,approximately eighty-five percent of DHS employees will continue to go to work. A mere fifteen percent will be temporarily furloughed.