As the saying goes, “Were it not for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.” This seems to be a shared philosophy among those in Congress and most college students. One group likes to party hard and wait until the last possible minute to throw something together to turn in, and then there are college students.
  Each year, the House of Representatives and Senate are required to pass 12 appropriations bills to fund federal agencies and set spending priorities. This is supposed to happen before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. But since Congress makes the rules, they rarely follow them. According to CQ Roll Call, the last time Congress passed all of these bills individually before the deadline was in 1994. Instead it resorts to stopgap budgets called continuing resolutions. The last stopgap measure expired at midnight on Monday.
    If Republicans in the House and Democrats in the Senate cannot agree on a bill to fund the government agencies, all “non-essential” functions of these agencies will cease. Such a gap in funding would not be a new phenomenon (there have been 17 lapses in funding since 1977), nor would it be catastrophic.
  According to a Department of Justice memo, referring to the lapse in federal funding as a “shutdown” is “an entirely inaccurate description” because, in reality, the government will not shutdown. A federal law called “The Antideficiency Act” was amended in 1982 during the Reagan administration to ensure that major government programs still function during a funding gap, even if some employees are furloughed.
  Even if it does happen, essential services like air traffic control, meat inspections, border patrol and mail delivery would continue. Social Security checks would be sent, and the Medicaid and Medicare programs would continue to pay doctors. The military would continue to ensure our national defense, and every other essential function of the federal government will carry on.
  However, a lapse in funding wouldn’t be a walk in the park, especially considering that all national parks would close. Many federal employees would be furloughed and all “nonessential” government services such as production of passports, visas and gun permits, among many others, would either see significant delays or cease completely under a funding gap.
  The results would be felt locally as well. According to Feds Data Center there are 80 federal employees working at Mississippi State University with an additional 62 federal employees working in the Starkville area. A large number of those federal employees working at MSU work for the Agricultural Research Service. As outlined by a USDA shutdown action plan, apart from those caring for the animals and plants, all other employees will be sent home without pay until funding is resumed.
   Republicans want to delay implementation of Obamacare as part of the continuing resolution, and Democrats consider any changes to Obamacare to be a deal breaker. The only thing both sides can agree upon is that if a government shutdown was to occur, it would be the other side’s fault.
  Another issue that should not be confused with the possible government shutdown is the debt ceiling debate. The limit on federal borrowing is currently set at $16.7 trillion, and according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the limit will be reached around Oct. 18. If the debt ceiling is reached, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the Treasury, “would be left to fund the government with only the cash we have on hand.” It would leave many obligations unpaid, the total effect of which is entirely unknown since it has never happened before.
   If the government had to shutdown for a brief period it would probably be worth it. A shutdown isn’t a good thing, but it also isn’t the worst thing.