I just heard the umpteenth story from the mainstream media about the terrible plight of the federal workers who are not being paid due to the partial shutdown of the government. This one was on CBS News and it reported on a worker who was wondering if she should buy food or get her prescriptions filled. This sort of story has been a staple of the media for the last two weeks. But there's a problem with these stories that you need to keep in mind when you hear them.
Here's the problem: there has yet to be even one federal worker who has missed a paycheck. That's right, the first federal payday since the partial shutdown began is this week, so until Thursday comes, federal workers haven't had even one penny of their pay delayed by even a minute. In all the stories about the plight of the workers, I have yet to hear a mainstream media reporter make that point.
Look, there's no question that if the partial shutdown continues past Thursday, there will be workers who will have their paychecks delayed. For many, this will be a problem. No one, however, is going to lose his or her home because the pay comes next week instead of this week (assuming there finally is some settlement.) I also doubt that there will be many federal workers who won't have enough to find the money to buy food in a short delay. The problem is not unpaid federal workers; it is the intransigence of Congress to come to some sort of resolution that will allow the government to reopen.
Remember, this fight is over AT MOST five billion dollars. That's a tiny amount for the federal government which spends almost one thousand times that amount each year. It's not the money that is the issue. It is, rather, that the Democrats can't stand to let President Trump satisfy his promise to build a wall to stop the huge flow of illegal drugs into this country and to limit the number of illegal aliens who can just walk over the border with Mexico. Just for the drugs, however, an expenditure of five billion is well worth it. At this point, deaths from drug overdoses is one of the leading causes of death across the nation.
Here's the problem: there has yet to be even one federal worker who has missed a paycheck. That's right, the first federal payday since the partial shutdown began is this week, so until Thursday comes, federal workers haven't had even one penny of their pay delayed by even a minute. In all the stories about the plight of the workers, I have yet to hear a mainstream media reporter make that point.
Look, there's no question that if the partial shutdown continues past Thursday, there will be workers who will have their paychecks delayed. For many, this will be a problem. No one, however, is going to lose his or her home because the pay comes next week instead of this week (assuming there finally is some settlement.) I also doubt that there will be many federal workers who won't have enough to find the money to buy food in a short delay. The problem is not unpaid federal workers; it is the intransigence of Congress to come to some sort of resolution that will allow the government to reopen.
Remember, this fight is over AT MOST five billion dollars. That's a tiny amount for the federal government which spends almost one thousand times that amount each year. It's not the money that is the issue. It is, rather, that the Democrats can't stand to let President Trump satisfy his promise to build a wall to stop the huge flow of illegal drugs into this country and to limit the number of illegal aliens who can just walk over the border with Mexico. Just for the drugs, however, an expenditure of five billion is well worth it. At this point, deaths from drug overdoses is one of the leading causes of death across the nation.
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