![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/glenn-mollette.jpg?resize=300%2C300\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe American government shutdown impacts about 1.4 million federal workers, with roughly 700,000 furloughed and another 700,000 deemed essential continuing to work without pay. This number doesn\u2019t include the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 TSA officers are currently working without pay. Once the government shutdown ends they will receive their pay. Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck so this is a tough time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The shutdown is expected to shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points of annualized inflation-GDP growth per week. It\u2019s also delaying the release of economic data, which could make it harder for the Federal Reserve to make informed decisions on interest and monetary policy. However, many economists believe the negative effects will be temporary and will be recovered when normal operations resume. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The major holdup is that Democrats want a spending plan that includes an extension of Covid-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies. Republicans want a spending bill first, and then they\u2019ll talk about the extension of those subsidies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the government shutdown, the average US congressman makes around $14,500 per month. Their annual salary is $174,000. They will also receive government health insurance. They will receive their ongoing matching contributions paid into their retirement plan by the government, paid time off, free gym membership and other perks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Congress members still receive salaries during a shutdown because the 27th<\/sup> Amendment to the Constitution prevents congressional pay raises or decreases during their current term. Their salaries come from a permanent appropriation that isn\u2019t tied to annual spending bills. They are considered essential workers, even though they\u2019re not directly affected by the shutdown like other federal workers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most Americans think it\u2019s unfair for Congress to get paid during a shutdown while federal workers don\u2019t. Many argue it\u2019s hypocritical and unjust. However, there are several members of Congress who reportedly have chosen to not receive their pay until the shutdown is resolved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n During the shutdown, Americans can contact their representatives to express concerns. Donate to charities helping furloughed workers. Participate in peaceful protests\/rallies. Support local businesses and national parks. Volunteer for organizations helping federal workers. Stay informed through credible news sources. Reach out to neighbors who are federal workers to offer help. Vote at the upcoming election. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Dr. Glenn Mollette\u00a0 The American government shutdown impacts about 1.4 million federal workers, with roughly 700,000 furloughed and another 700,000 deemed essential continuing to work without pay. This number doesn\u2019t… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAxOVwvMDZcL2dsZW5uLW1vbGxldHRlLmpwZz9maXQ9MzAwJTJDMzAwJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiSXMgQ29uZ3Jlc3MgSHlwb2NyaXRpY2FsP1x1MDBhMCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.90l2ngK2UsKne3GgzaZa9X1hjDnotvToYcEVJ3EQEf8MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":214,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/glenn-mollette.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[12491],"class_list":["post-58782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-is-congress-hypocritical"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58783,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58782\/revisions\/58783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}