Speaker 1: Hi, they're friends. It's me Josh. For this week's select
Speaker 1: I've chosen our September twenty nineteen episode on government shutdowns. Sadly,
Speaker 1: this is such a perennial topic we should re release
Speaker 1: it every couple months. It's a good thing to understand
Speaker 1: so that you can be good and ticked off at
Speaker 1: your elected officials any time of shutdown happens, because, as
Speaker 1: we learn in this episode, they are totally avoidable. So enjoy.
Speaker 1: I guess.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the podcast. So I'm Josh Clark,
Speaker 1: and there's Charles w Chuck Bryan, there's Jerry over there,
Speaker 1: and this is the podcast, Like I said, in particular,
Speaker 1: it's the Stuff you Should Know podcast. So if that's
Speaker 1: not where you're here to listen to, you're in the
Speaker 1: wrong place.
Speaker 2: And if you don't want to listen to us talk
Speaker 2: about government shutdowns, then you're in the wrong place.
Speaker 1: Well, who doesn't want to know about government shutdowns?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I agree. Educate yourselves right as a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: because it's gonna happen again soon enough.
Speaker 1: That's exactly right. That is why I wanted to do
Speaker 1: this episode. Yeah, because I've been meaning for us to
Speaker 1: do this for years now, and every time we do it,
Speaker 1: and it's like, every time I go to do it,
Speaker 1: say let's do a government shutdown episode, I think, is
Speaker 1: what I'm trying to say. Sorry, I just drank a
Speaker 1: Red Bull because I was about to fall over and
Speaker 1: now I'm talking really fast. Just give me like ten minutes.
Speaker 2: Okay, and you're drinking a Coca Cola.
Speaker 1: Well, we don't have zero here anymore. This is all
Speaker 1: we have.
Speaker 2: We want that extra caffeine kick on top of the
Speaker 2: red bull.
Speaker 1: I think I have just this twelve ounce can. It's
Speaker 1: not even gone, and I think I've burned a hole
Speaker 1: in my stomach.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy but delicious.
Speaker 1: It is delicious, I'll give you that. But Coke zero
Speaker 1: is really delicious too, for being a diet cola at
Speaker 1: any rate.
Speaker 2: Government shutdowns you were saying, Yeah, every time we go
Speaker 2: to do this, it.
Speaker 1: Shuts down, so it looks like we're chasing a trend,
Speaker 1: so we have to wait. Yeah, I'm like, finally the
Speaker 1: time is right, because.
Speaker 2: It wouldn't be cool to do one in the midst
Speaker 2: of one.
Speaker 1: Is that the definitely not gotcha? No, that's like buying
Speaker 1: a T shirt at a concert and then putting that
Speaker 1: T shirt on and looking around like, yeah, I'm.
Speaker 2: At the concert right with that horrible smell. Oh yeah, shirt,
Speaker 2: especially concert t shirts that are printed out of you know,
Speaker 2: straight chemicals.
Speaker 1: Out of Buffalo Bill's basement, made of skin.
Speaker 2: Man. He's been on my mind a.
Speaker 1: Lot because of the Egean episode.
Speaker 2: Well, because that, and then I just saw on the
Speaker 2: movie Crushers page someone posted a funny little thing that
Speaker 2: was a Buffalo Bill tender profile. This was really funny.
Speaker 1: I got to do that.
Speaker 2: And then there was something else from this past weekend.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of Buffalo Bill happening. He's everywhere.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, remember we used to send each other that
Speaker 1: that one screenshot. Yeah, that's great. Ye back when we
Speaker 1: shared a cubicle wall.
Speaker 2: I know, and it was easy enough to do that
Speaker 2: back then.
Speaker 1: Now we have gold plated airon chairs, no walls anywhere.
Speaker 2: I'd take a regular eiron.
Speaker 1: I think that's what you're sitting in right now.
Speaker 2: I'm quite comfy.
Speaker 1: So anyway, welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, there's Chuck.
Speaker 1: We should edit all that other stuff out, don't you think.
Speaker 2: Or get money from Red Bull Coca Cola and Aaron,
Speaker 2: you're right, and Buffalo Bill right, or the Buffalo Bill's
Speaker 2: football team.
Speaker 1: Dang Man, you just really pulled it together with that
Speaker 1: last one. So we've been through some shutdowns in our time.
Speaker 2: Chuck, sure, in our day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as a matter of fact, you'd think based on
Speaker 1: how common they kind of seem. I mean every few years.
Speaker 1: There's like the federal government, I should say, for our
Speaker 1: fellow listeners outside of the United States, our government is broken, right,
Speaker 1: We're talking about government shutdowns, and it's a lot like
Speaker 1: what it sounds like. I mean, we'll get to the
Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of it, obviously, but it's basically where
Speaker 1: the federal government, not state governments, but the federal USA
Speaker 1: government parts of it just stop functioning, right, And the
Speaker 1: reason they stop functioning is because those agencies that those
Speaker 1: parts of the federal government have not been funded. And
Speaker 1: since they haven't been funded by law by Congressional Act
Speaker 1: from years back, they are not allowed to pay workers
Speaker 1: any longer. They're not even allowed to accept volunteer work
Speaker 1: from their workers. So with no workers, that means the
Speaker 1: agency shuts down, and that's a government shutdown. That's what
Speaker 1: we're talking about. Literally parts of the government shut down.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and again we will get into all the nuts
Speaker 2: and bolts, but it shuts down because of funding gaps,
Speaker 2: and those funding gaps happen almost always because of entrenched politics.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's two sides playing chicken over the budget, right,
Speaker 1: and when the government shutdown happens, neither side blinked.
Speaker 2: Right. And it's also very important to point out that
Speaker 2: a big part of government shut downs is trying to
Speaker 2: get the other side to maybe not accept blame, because
Speaker 2: no one ever does. It seems like sure, but at
Speaker 2: least the perception in the general media that this person
Speaker 2: or this side is the one to blame.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and more often than not, public polling shows that
Speaker 1: it's Congress that almost always takes to blame. Oh really,
Speaker 1: until this last one, it was always Congress, right, no
Speaker 1: matter what, Which is funny that they would try to
Speaker 1: pull us off because it's so politically risky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's.
Speaker 1: So damaging on an individual level among like federal employees
Speaker 1: or just average Americans, but also on a national level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, our economy takes a huge, shit.
Speaker 1: Huge hit that we just never regain.
Speaker 2: All Right, that's a great setup.
Speaker 1: I think so too, So Chuck, to start, I think
Speaker 1: we should talk about how money moves around the federal government,
Speaker 1: don't you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is again, if you live outside the
Speaker 2: kind and even if you live in the United States,
Speaker 2: you may not understand what power of the purse means.
Speaker 2: But in the United States and in the US Constitution,
Speaker 2: Article one, section nine claws seven.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not even the Bill of Rights, like the Constitution. Yeah, Like,
Speaker 1: this is one of the first things they thought about.
Speaker 2: It was Congress who was granted control over the money.
Speaker 2: So the President and can't just fund something. The Senate
Speaker 2: can't just fund something. Everything has to be agreed on
Speaker 2: and they can't spend a dime without Congress's express approval.
Speaker 2: Through this process, we're going to get into called appropriations.
Speaker 1: Right, and so in the Constitution it just said the
Speaker 1: Congress is the one that approves all money. Everything comes
Speaker 1: through Congress. Right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we should read that though, because it does have
Speaker 2: one funny line. You go ahead from the Constitution, no
Speaker 2: money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence
Speaker 2: of the appropriations made by law. So far, so good, Okay.
Speaker 2: Regular statement of account of receipts and expenditures of all
Speaker 2: money shall be published from time to time. It's very
Speaker 2: non specific.
Speaker 1: Whenever you get to it.
Speaker 2: Why not like you know, in November of every year.
Speaker 1: I honestly don't know, because I mean, from time to
Speaker 1: time makes it seem unimportant.
Speaker 2: It makes it seem what's the word when you don't
Speaker 2: have to do something, makes it seem non mandatory?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Optional, optional, Sure, that's the word. I know you
Speaker 1: so well after all these years. So that's the It's
Speaker 1: from Article one of the Constitution, and presidents from seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy eight onward said, Okay, I can work with that.
Speaker 1: There's a huge loophole here, like no, I can't. I can't,
Speaker 1: you know, spend money myself, Like I can't pay anybody myself.
Speaker 1: I have to wait for Congress. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: I can't like get the work done first and then
Speaker 1: when it comes time to pay, I can just direct
Speaker 1: this contractor vendor, whoever, militiaman to Congress to go get money.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is really I mean that is so United
Speaker 2: States government to be like, well, I'm technically not writing
Speaker 2: the check. I've just engaged someone services and now we
Speaker 2: owe them this money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Congress, pay this guy's yeah, yeah, he did what
Speaker 1: he's saying he did. And so there was this representative
Speaker 1: in Virginia who was not happy about this, yeah, this
Speaker 1: kind of precedent that had been adopted by the executive branch.
Speaker 1: This representative said in eighteen oh six that presidents were
Speaker 1: acting like a saucy boy whose wealthy grandfather was going
Speaker 1: to cover his needs, and that that was the case.
Speaker 1: So eventually Congress said, we got to close this loophole,
Speaker 1: and they did in eighteen eighty four.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah. The Anti Deficiency Act basically said, no,
Speaker 2: you can't just pay the guy to paint your house
Speaker 2: and then stand there tapping your toe looking at the
Speaker 2: guy with the checkbook.
Speaker 1: Right exactly. As a matter of fact, they said, you
Speaker 1: can't spend a single dime that Congress hasn't already appropriated
Speaker 1: for that. That's right, You just can't do it so
Speaker 1: much so that again, you can't even accept volunteer work
Speaker 1: unless it is basically to protect life, for public safety,
Speaker 1: something really really important.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But when we say we fund you, Congress funds the
Speaker 1: executive branch, all the agencies in the federal government, we
Speaker 1: really mean it. And that's what the Anti Deficiency Act really.
Speaker 2: Said, yeah, but it would take until nineteen seventy four
Speaker 2: when Richard Nixon signed the Congress Budget and Impoundment Control Act.
Speaker 1: It's a barn burner, yeah, but.
Speaker 2: That's what really changed everything, and that's what kind of
Speaker 2: laid out this process that we still work with today
Speaker 2: or don't work with, or sit on our hands and
Speaker 2: hold our breath.
Speaker 1: Right. Ideally, it functions kind of clunky even in its
Speaker 1: best form, Yeah, but purposefully so it's to keep Congress
Speaker 1: from being profligate with it spending sure, right, Like I mean,
Speaker 1: it's to say, this group over here and this group
Speaker 1: over here, we're taking the same task and making you
Speaker 1: guys do it twice separately and then come together and
Speaker 1: hammer out the details. Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's really discouraging to look at the history of our
Speaker 2: country and the you know, the idea should be that like,
Speaker 2: all right, we know that in this country we have
Speaker 2: a lot of people that feel one way about a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff, a lot of people that feel the
Speaker 2: other way, and the government's job should be to come
Speaker 2: together and negotiate and find nice middle grounds. And it
Speaker 2: seems like it's more like the government just finds loopholes
Speaker 2: and is sneaky and underhanded to find workarounds from actually
Speaker 2: trying to work together and find a middle ground.
Speaker 1: Right stinks.
Speaker 2: Sick of it.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm pretty fed up with government too. I think
Speaker 1: most people in America and I would gather the UK too.
Speaker 2: All right, oh man, especially right now. So here's how
Speaker 2: it happens. Every year, the two chambers of Congress, they
Speaker 2: have to agree on a budget for the discretionary spending,
Speaker 2: which is I think only thirty percent of the overall
Speaker 2: budget is discretionary. Everything else is mandatory or nondiscretionary, and
Speaker 2: that means stuff that you just can't not pay.
Speaker 1: For, right and it's mostly things like Medicaid, Medicare, social
Speaker 1: security entitlement programs right to where these are mandatory programs
Speaker 1: that are created by an Act of Congress that says
Speaker 1: whatever these programs need to run and operate, that's how
Speaker 1: much Congress gives them. There's no spending levels, there's no
Speaker 1: you know what about this is like you can go
Speaker 1: in in monkey with the operation by congressional act. But
Speaker 1: as far as spending and budget goes, whatever they need
Speaker 1: they get.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: The other stuff, the discretionary stuff, that's what'd you say
Speaker 1: about thirty percent of the budget.
Speaker 2: It's thirty percent, but that's still like in twenty eighteen,
Speaker 2: that was one point two trillion dollars, And it's really
Speaker 2: important stuff. It's not like the mandatory spending is the
Speaker 2: only important stuff. We're talking about the f DA, Homeland Security, TSA,
Speaker 2: the NIH, National Parks, the IRS.
Speaker 1: The Department of Defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, big time stuff.
Speaker 1: Basically everything except Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
Speaker 2: Oh really is that seventy percent essentially? Jeez?
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 2: All right, So this all starts this appropriations process. It's
Speaker 2: laid out for the first Monday in February, and this
Speaker 2: is the deadline. It lines up with the deadline for
Speaker 2: the president to submit their budget to Congress, which you
Speaker 2: always hear this is a president's budget. The president oversees
Speaker 2: stuff and approved stuff. But the president's not in there
Speaker 2: with the calculator crunching numbers.
Speaker 1: No, No, it's the Office of Management and Budget that
Speaker 1: does it for the president, that's right, But it's under
Speaker 1: the president's direction. The president says, I really want to
Speaker 1: do this. Yeah, I don't want to do this anymore. Right,
Speaker 1: But the thing is, it's almost like a little kid
Speaker 1: going through the Montgomery Ward wish Book and then writing
Speaker 1: their list in crayon that has about the same polling
Speaker 1: as the president's budget. Yeah, it really is saying this
Speaker 1: is what the president wants to do, and then Congress
Speaker 1: either says these are good ideas or they say we're
Speaker 1: not listening to that at all, because it's not legally
Speaker 1: binding in any way.
Speaker 2: There's probably in fact party line templates. They just throw
Speaker 2: down like a mad lib and they tweak it a
Speaker 2: little bit, but they say like, oh, here's the Republican
Speaker 2: style budget, and here's the Democratic style budget Obama or Trump,
Speaker 2: and now do your minor tweaks.
Speaker 1: I think that is kind of it's got to be
Speaker 1: because it's a huge, massive document.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can't like start from scratch every time, can they.
Speaker 1: Know it's got to be like the first few pages
Speaker 1: are what really count, you know what I mean? It's
Speaker 1: got to be.
Speaker 2: But again, this is like they call it in this article,
Speaker 2: like the wish list of funding priorities. And that's a
Speaker 2: good way to put it.
Speaker 1: The Montgomery Ward Wishbook wish list.
Speaker 2: I was a Sears kid.
Speaker 1: I didn't discriminate. I went through all of them to
Speaker 1: make sure all my basis cover.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't even have Montgomery Wards, so I never really,
Speaker 2: I've never laid eyes upon that catalog.
Speaker 1: It was it was good. It was a good one.
Speaker 1: I put it up against the Series one.
Speaker 2: Yeah we had seers. And then I guess Service Merchandise
Speaker 2: was another.
Speaker 1: I remember that. Didn't they sell everything from like diamond
Speaker 1: rings to Cassio keyboards.
Speaker 2: Oh, they sold everything. I think I bought my very
Speaker 2: first guitar from Service Merchandise, oh, and returned it like
Speaker 2: a week later because it was creddy broken, and I
Speaker 2: went to a real guitar store.
Speaker 1: Sam Ash No.
Speaker 2: I actually I remember I went to dirt Cheap Music
Speaker 2: on Memorial Drives not there, and again shop Local. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dirt cheap buzz marketing for a business that is
Speaker 1: no longer around.
Speaker 2: So they've got this wish list. Then it goes onto
Speaker 2: Congress and they have to pass what's called a concurrent
Speaker 2: budget resolution.
Speaker 1: Right, and Congress can totally ignore the president's budget. They're
Speaker 1: taken into consideration if the If Congress is in the
Speaker 1: controlled by the same party the president is, the president's
Speaker 1: wishes are probably going to be taken into consideration. But
Speaker 1: ultimately Congress says, this is what we want to do.
Speaker 1: And from what I can tell, when they come up
Speaker 1: with this concurrent.
Speaker 2: Budget right, yeah, concurrent budget a cbs R Current Budget Resolution.
Speaker 1: It's basically just setting the spending for the year. Right.
Speaker 1: That's that's all that is, Isn't it like this the
Speaker 1: cap on what the federal government can spend entirely?
Speaker 2: I think. So it's just that broad agreement of the
Speaker 2: total amount of.
Speaker 1: Spending, Okay, and then it starts to get divvied up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not in the weeds at this point. No,
Speaker 2: but they're supposed to pass that by mid April, and
Speaker 2: that's where they set these spending levels for twenty categories.
Speaker 2: And this is where you know, this is where it
Speaker 2: starts to break down, or not breakdown, but like in
Speaker 2: a bad way. But they start to break it down
Speaker 2: because it's such a massive thing. You got to break
Speaker 2: it down in the smaller departments.
Speaker 1: Right. So Congress says, here's the total amount of money
Speaker 1: that we're going to spend this year, and it goes
Speaker 1: to the Appropriations Committee in the Senate and the Appropriations
Speaker 1: Committee in the House, and then each of them says, Okay,
Speaker 1: we've got this hole let's divvy it up into twelve slices,
Speaker 1: not necessarily equal slices. I think they'd probably be pretty lazy.
Speaker 1: But they say, you know, Agriculture and Rural Development, you're
Speaker 1: going to get this much this year, Commerce, Justice, and Science,
Speaker 1: you're going to get this much, like this slice of
Speaker 1: the pie. And they do that over twelve departments that
Speaker 1: roughly correspond to the different cabinet posts in the federal government.
Speaker 2: That's right. And it's up to those subcommittees, those twelve
Speaker 2: different ones, once they get their little slice of pie,
Speaker 2: to then decide how to eat that pie. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it's that piece of the pie.
Speaker 1: There's an appropriation subcommittee that says this is how you're
Speaker 1: going to spend this, that's right, and they have hearings
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, where like the heads of these
Speaker 1: departments come and say, we really need this. We've got
Speaker 1: some really exciting stuff coming up. Give us some more
Speaker 1: money where we figured out how to sharks and hunt
Speaker 1: dolphins with spear guns, and we really want to get
Speaker 1: into that this year.
Speaker 2: Or you know, we really need to build this thing,
Speaker 2: or the military really needs to upgrade that thing.
Speaker 1: Right, stuff like that, and then these appropriation subcommittees, each
Speaker 1: one dedicated to a group of agencies or a couple
Speaker 1: an agency, just a single one, say okay, this is
Speaker 1: how we're going to spend this money. And then once
Speaker 1: that happens in the House and the same thing happens
Speaker 1: in the Senate, those two groups, the appropriation subcommittees for
Speaker 1: each of these twelve slices.
Speaker 2: Of pie, come together ideally.
Speaker 1: And they say, well, we came up with this. What
Speaker 1: did you guys come up with And they say, well,
Speaker 1: we came up with this, and we're off by seven
Speaker 1: billion dollars. How are we going to figure this out?
Speaker 2: That's great, only seven billion.
Speaker 1: Dollars, right, that's nothing these days.
Speaker 2: Well, they negotiate with each other to come up with
Speaker 2: a joint spending bill. I imagine those meetings are contentious
Speaker 2: and tough. Sure, and eventually, though ideally, they negotiate that
Speaker 2: spending bill. Then that gets sent to the President and
Speaker 2: they can veto that or sign that.
Speaker 1: Right. So, remember there's twelve there's actually twenty four of
Speaker 1: these going on over twelve different slices of pie. And
Speaker 1: when they come back together and form twelve different appropriations resolutions,
Speaker 1: they can say we're done. This is good let's send
Speaker 1: it to the president and the president can sign that.
Speaker 1: If things are going along really smoothly and Congress wants
Speaker 1: to show off, they'll say, we want to get all
Speaker 1: these together in one package. We're going to present all
Speaker 1: twelve to the president and the president can either sign
Speaker 1: or veto. So they could the president can sign or
Speaker 1: veto each one separately, in small groups or as a whole.
Speaker 1: As a whole is called omnibus.
Speaker 2: Yeah. If you ever heard the term omnibus spending bill
Speaker 2: and you're like, what in the world is that, that
Speaker 2: just means it's everything grouped together?
Speaker 1: Right, And so one reason that you would go through
Speaker 1: the headache of trying to put all twelve of those
Speaker 1: appropriations bills into one package is that if there's something
Speaker 1: in one of those appropriations bills that you want, yeah,
Speaker 1: you got a lot more leverage than the other eleven
Speaker 1: that you can trade from the budget as a whole
Speaker 1: to get that thing out or get this thing in.
Speaker 1: If it's one appropriations bill, you have much less leverage.
Speaker 1: So that's why they would go to that trouble. But
Speaker 1: that's fairly rare, I believe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And this is all due by October first, because
Speaker 2: that is the beginning of the federal government's fiscal year
Speaker 2: is October one. And since we've been doing this in
Speaker 2: modern times, I believe nineteen seventy seven was when we
Speaker 2: started this process. Congress has passed all twelve by October first,
Speaker 2: by that deadline only four times.
Speaker 1: Four times, that's right.
Speaker 2: So we'll take a break and we'll discuss what happens
Speaker 2: all of the other times right after this.
Speaker 1: So okay, Congress comes along. Also, big shout out to
Speaker 1: Dave Ruce. This is his first article that we're doing
Speaker 1: an episode on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Dave is one of the great writers from howsoftworks
Speaker 2: dot com that we long admired over the years and
Speaker 2: tapped him to do some stuff for.
Speaker 1: Us, tapping him.
Speaker 2: We're tapping him and he's tapping back. It's great.
Speaker 1: We've got a pretty great little stable going here. We've
Speaker 1: got Dave Rus, Julia Layton, and the Grabster all writing
Speaker 1: for stuff you should know right now.
Speaker 2: That's right, And I think if they keep up the
Speaker 2: good work, then that's all we need.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so too, because we still put together
Speaker 2: our own stuff too, Yes we do. I want to
Speaker 2: give us a pat on the back as well.
Speaker 1: All right, that's fine, all right, So I just pulled
Speaker 1: the muscle in my arm.
Speaker 2: I can't write this week. So, like we said before
Speaker 2: the break, this has only happened four times, and since
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven, that all twelve appropriations bills were passed
Speaker 2: by that October one deadline.
Speaker 1: It's so funny.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to October second, it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: if we haven't passed those appropriations bills, it's like everything
Speaker 2: just stops working right, Because if you pay attention to
Speaker 2: the news, you will notice that there's something called a
Speaker 2: continuing resolution. So this can happen for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 2: One good and sort of non offensive reason could be that, man,
Speaker 2: we were really close and we're almost there. We just
Speaker 2: need another week or the weekend. We'll work through the
Speaker 2: weekend even to get this done.
Speaker 1: Right. A good but offensive reason is because someone farted
Speaker 1: and everyone cleared out of the chamber and missed the deadline,
Speaker 1: so they had to do a continuing rest.
Speaker 2: Oh no, I mean if they're close and they just
Speaker 2: need a few more days to work it out, then
Speaker 2: that can happen. They'll pass the continuing resolution, which means
Speaker 2: everything stays the same. You don't get any more money,
Speaker 2: or you don't get money taken away. Just keep like
Speaker 2: operate as usual.
Speaker 1: Right, you can't increase spending. You can spend differently or whatever,
Speaker 1: but you can't spend above the levels of the previous
Speaker 1: fiscal year. No, you're you're currently in right, that's right, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think a continuing resolution, whether it's
Speaker 1: one for a day or for a year, and there
Speaker 1: have been ones that have been like year long continuing resolution.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no limit. You can pass them forever long
Speaker 2: you think you need.
Speaker 1: Right. It does show that negotiations are still ongoing. They
Speaker 1: haven't broken down, they just haven't reached the point where
Speaker 1: they're in agreement yet.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: The problem comes when they stop issuing continuing resolutions.
Speaker 2: That's right. Day through. In a few pretty cool facts here,
Speaker 2: one hundred and eighty six continuing resolutions have been since
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven, and one hundred and seventeen or those
Speaker 2: of those, or those have been since nineteen ninety eight. Yes,
Speaker 2: so it's taken them one hundred and seventeen times that
Speaker 2: they could not work it out since nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 2: That's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it is but if you think about it,
Speaker 1: the it's about evenly split. Well, no, it's not evenly split.
Speaker 1: It's like seventy to I think sixty nine to one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventeen over two twenty year periods. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and it does seem to be getting worse, But that's
Speaker 1: kind of lopsided because in twentyd and one there were
Speaker 1: twenty one of that one hundred and seventeen. Yeah, twenty
Speaker 1: one of them all came in two thousand and one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'm not quite sure about this, but I wonder
Speaker 1: is the a number and increase in continuing resolutions? Is
Speaker 1: that like a barometer for government or how government's working.
Speaker 2: Uh? I don't know, because.
Speaker 1: I wonder because I mean, ideally, like they would get
Speaker 1: all this done by the October first deadline every time.
Speaker 2: Well it depends because as this points out, like sometimes
Speaker 2: it is over the weekend and it's just a few
Speaker 2: days and they're like really close to having it worked out.
Speaker 2: So to me, that's not the biggest deal in the world.
Speaker 2: That doesn't mean the government isn't functioning well, right, I
Speaker 2: mean as well as it ever does, sure, am I right? Yeah,
Speaker 2: But like in two thousand and seven, eleven and thirteen,
Speaker 2: they were all year long. There were no appropriation spills.
Speaker 1: Right, they just said we're just going to repeat last.
Speaker 2: Year, or no real appropriation spills, I guess right.
Speaker 1: They just they just said, remember the spending levels from before.
Speaker 1: Go with god, that's what you got again this year.
Speaker 2: Because that means agree, Yeah, that's when things are bad.
Speaker 1: So continuing resolutions too, like it doesn't affect spending levels
Speaker 1: or it doesn't increase them. It can't, I wonder. I
Speaker 1: don't know if it can decrease them or not. I know,
Speaker 1: you it just basically says same spending levels last year,
Speaker 1: so maybe it can't decrease them either.
Speaker 2: I think can't decrease. I think it's just your current
Speaker 2: funding is locked.
Speaker 1: Right, But you can attach writers onto continuing resolutions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, these policy writers, those can be like the make
Speaker 2: or break. And if it's clean, which I don't know
Speaker 2: how often that happens. I'd be curious to see a stat.
Speaker 2: But if it's a clean policy writer, that means it
Speaker 2: has nothing else, or a clean.
Speaker 1: CR CR it doesn't have any policy writer, that's right.
Speaker 1: So a lot of times though, if there's a policy
Speaker 1: writer on a CR, it might be like, Okay, we
Speaker 1: can't come to an agreement about medicaid funding abortion that
Speaker 1: was a big one in the nineteen seventies. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: in this same appropriations bill that we're haggling over, there's
Speaker 1: this other thing that's like super critical. It's like local
Speaker 1: hospitals aren't going to get any n Q funding and
Speaker 1: it's about to run out. So we need to increase
Speaker 1: the NQ funding for low local hospitals, and we'll attach
Speaker 1: that as a policy writer to this continuing resolution because
Speaker 1: this is kind of an emergency and it doesn't really
Speaker 1: have anything to do with the contentious part that that's
Speaker 1: keeping the policy or the appropriations bill from being passed. Right,
Speaker 1: So that's I think usually what happens with that.
Speaker 2: You know what show really nails this stuff is Veep.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: For all it's like, you know, comedy and funny stuff.
Speaker 2: It seems like they really nail kind of what it's
Speaker 2: like in Washington. Sure, because there's a lot of talk
Speaker 2: of this kind of stuff. Yeah, clean bills and writers
Speaker 2: and who's on whose side and can we sway this
Speaker 2: one person in our darker side?
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of just dirty, dirty language.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, god man, Julie Louis drive us.
Speaker 1: She is a She's an international treasure totally.
Speaker 2: At one interaction with her briefly when in La and
Speaker 2: my friend's building in Los Philos, the Hollymont Building. He
Speaker 2: lived there, Scotty, you know, Scotty sure, and we had
Speaker 2: a case of beer and a pizza and some snacks
Speaker 2: and we were going.
Speaker 1: She showed up, is like, where's the party.
Speaker 2: Well, that's sort of what happened. We were going up
Speaker 2: in the front of the building and she was shooting
Speaker 2: New Adventures of Old Christine right there at the entrance,
Speaker 2: and we literally walked by her and they were like
Speaker 2: putting on her makeup, like right in front of They
Speaker 2: were right about to go, and she said, who are
Speaker 2: those guys? I want to go with them? Where are
Speaker 2: you guys going? And of course we were like, come
Speaker 2: on up.
Speaker 1: That's cool.
Speaker 2: And then an electrician knocked on our door and asked
Speaker 2: to put a light in his apartment shining out the window.
Speaker 1: How much did you charge them?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we didn't. We were just like, come on in.
Speaker 1: And then Eric Estrada showed up and arrested you.
Speaker 2: All right, so where are we here?
Speaker 1: So I'll tell you where we left off, Chuck, we
Speaker 1: left off with continuing resolutions.
Speaker 2: Temporary funding.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Eventually if a position is contentious enough about some
Speaker 1: part of the budget, right, and very rarely is it
Speaker 1: something is it something financial necessarily like it has to
Speaker 1: do with finances because it's in the budget. But typically
Speaker 1: it's something more political than that, like the idea of
Speaker 1: medicaid funding abortions.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy seven, in nineteen seventy eight, there were
Speaker 1: there impasses were reached where they could not come to
Speaker 1: an agreement on using medicaid to fund abortions, federal dollars
Speaker 1: to fund abortions. Right, that's right, very contentious issue. Yes,
Speaker 1: it had to do with money, it had to do
Speaker 1: with finances, medicaid funding, but really it was about the
Speaker 1: social issue. Is cultural issue abortion? Yeah, that's usually the
Speaker 1: kind of the kind of political impass or divide that
Speaker 1: it takes to really reach a point where one side says,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't even agree to this continuing resolution anymore,
Speaker 1: just forget it, we're done.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It seems like it's usually something that is so
Speaker 2: important to that either president or party or both, that
Speaker 2: they feel like it's worth digging in and a lot
Speaker 2: of times that has to do Sometimes that has to
Speaker 2: do with the thing itself, but sometimes it has to
Speaker 2: do with the perception of that thing to your voting base.
Speaker 1: Sure that's part of it too, But I mean we're
Speaker 1: talking politicians here. I think you could have just said
Speaker 1: the last part, you know, that's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So what happens when they failed to pass that
Speaker 2: appropriations bill and they're not talking, You're going to get
Speaker 2: a funding gap and that doesn't necessarily lead to a
Speaker 2: shutdown either.
Speaker 1: Can we please get to the shutdown?
Speaker 2: Well, since nineteen eighty one, more than half of the
Speaker 2: funding gaps lasted just a few days. When I talked
Speaker 2: about solving it over the weekend, a lot of times
Speaker 2: that will happen over the weekend. And if it's less
Speaker 2: than a few days, that means no one had to
Speaker 2: sit out work or whatever. It was furloughed.
Speaker 1: Right, So technically the government was shut down, but no
Speaker 1: one noticed because it happened on days when the federal
Speaker 1: government isn't open anyway.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and until nineteen eighty one, they were actually allowed
Speaker 2: to keep operating, but the Reagan administration changed all that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what was the name Benjamin Civiletti Chivoletti technically an
Speaker 1: Italian to be hit because a C followed by a
Speaker 1: vowel makes a chies sound.
Speaker 2: Did you know that I do, and I don't remember
Speaker 2: this guy.
Speaker 1: I don't either.
Speaker 2: I mean we were young and probably too young to
Speaker 2: really know about attorney.
Speaker 1: General going and reckless.
Speaker 2: Like I knew the president, the Vice president, sure, and
Speaker 2: maybe the Speaker of the House or something.
Speaker 1: First attorney general I was cognizant of was Wen Mess
Speaker 1: wasn't he or was he state? I don't even know
Speaker 1: he was the first cabinet member. I was aware of
Speaker 1: Edwin Meese yea. I know Mees because I think they
Speaker 1: made fun him in Mad magazine that showed him like
Speaker 1: getting hit by a mouse trap or something, because he
Speaker 1: was a MEAs.
Speaker 2: That's kind of how I was exposed to politics too, Mad,
Speaker 2: I think, so. Sure, Yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Knew all about Spiro Agnew. Even though I knew who he.
Speaker 2: Was, I still don't really know who he was.
Speaker 1: There's this great Simpsons quote where Millhouse and Barter looking
Speaker 1: at a Mad magazine They're like, they're making fun of
Speaker 1: that Spiro Agnew guy. Again. He must work there or something.
Speaker 1: And I remember thinking like, I guess Spiro Agnew works
Speaker 1: there because to skewer like the publisher too, So I
Speaker 1: just thought Spiro Agnew was one of them.
Speaker 2: I think it's a funny name too, and sure comedy circles. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's a good one. Yes. Attorney General Benjamin Cibeletti, he
Speaker 2: was Reagan's ag and he said it is not constitutional
Speaker 2: to keep spending money without congressional approval, which is what's
Speaker 2: happening when you say we'll go ahead and keep working
Speaker 2: federal government. So he I mean they kind of made
Speaker 2: shutdowns happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like it was like, okay, we're shut down. Haha,
Speaker 1: We're still discontinuing on like normal, right until CHIVALLETTI said, well,
Speaker 1: remember that Anti Deficiency Act. That's actually for real, And
Speaker 1: I saw somewhere that it like they actually enforced that,
Speaker 1: and like federal agencies are are frequently fined for violating
Speaker 1: these things like going into contracts or hiring people when
Speaker 1: they don't really have the money for it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: saw somewhere the SEC got an eight hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: or fine ones for it. Couldn't find it anywhere else,
Speaker 1: but it was a spectacular enough number to at least
Speaker 1: mention it. Yeah, So Chivoletti really changed the rules for shutdowns,
Speaker 1: because before, if the government shut down but the government
Speaker 1: still functioned, it was almost more of like a what's
Speaker 1: the word I'm looking for, ceremonial kind of thing. It
Speaker 1: didn't really mean anything. It was symbolic, symbolic.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Once Ciboletti said no, no, we actually can't stay open during
Speaker 1: a shutdown, that made the whole thing way more politically risky,
Speaker 1: and so they stopped happening nearly as frequently from that
Speaker 1: point on.
Speaker 2: That's right. Things have changed since then tremendously, and there
Speaker 2: have been four times and sort of recently where people
Speaker 2: really dug in and there were what we would call
Speaker 2: major shutdowns. The Winner of ninety five ninety six, there
Speaker 2: were two shutdowns because of Bill Clinton being a Democrat
Speaker 2: and Newt Gingrich hating his guts. He was a House
Speaker 2: Speaker at the time and the Republican controlled Congress, and
Speaker 2: Newt was all about the Contract for America, which basically
Speaker 2: was small government, lowering.
Speaker 1: Taxes, really sticking it to the poor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like really higher restrictions on or more strict restrictions
Speaker 2: on welfare recipients. So he and Bill Clinton went at
Speaker 2: it for a long time.
Speaker 1: They really did, and I mean like each side was
Speaker 1: dug in and Gingrich was trying to shove that contract
Speaker 1: with America down Clinton's throat. It's not what Clinton's policies were,
Speaker 1: and Clinton said no, and neither side would give. And finally,
Speaker 1: this is how shutdowns usually get resolved. They start doing
Speaker 1: polls of the American public and say who do you
Speaker 1: blame for this? And almost invariably the public says, Congress,
Speaker 1: this is Congress's fault, that the that the country is
Speaker 1: just being weakened right now by this government shut down.
Speaker 1: And then Congress.
Speaker 2: Reliance, and that's what happened for those two. Both of
Speaker 2: the shutdowns were combined twenty six days, and Republicans in
Speaker 2: the Congress were to blame, according to American people and
Speaker 2: polling numbers at least, so you know, they said.
Speaker 1: Sorry, fine, fine, we'll try to get you impeached instead.
Speaker 2: Should we talk about twenty thirteen?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember this one really clearly.
Speaker 2: That's right, President Barack Obama. Republicans in Congress again, Ted Cruz.
Speaker 1: Like almost single handedly shut the government down, if I
Speaker 1: remember it correctly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he passed a bill that Republicans were very upset
Speaker 2: about the Affordable Care Act, and he did all he
Speaker 2: could to defund that, basically defund what was later to
Speaker 2: be known as Obamacare.
Speaker 1: And he was like leading a kind of a rogue
Speaker 1: faction of Tea Party Republicans because John Bayinner was the
Speaker 1: speaker at the time, and he was a traditional conservative Republican,
Speaker 1: and I believe he was on board too, just at
Speaker 1: least with continuing resolutions to keep the negotiations going. And
Speaker 1: I remember Ted Cruz just being like, nope, I'm shutting
Speaker 1: the government down. And it was a ballsy move.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you that, that's right, And that lasted sixteen days.
Speaker 2: Eight hundred thousand federal workers were furloughed, which we'll talk
Speaker 2: about what that means here in a minute. But again,
Speaker 2: public polling and public outcry was against the Republicans at
Speaker 2: the time, and they said, all right, we'll pass a
Speaker 2: CR and let's change some things about the Affordable Care Act,
Speaker 2: but we will pass a CR.
Speaker 1: Right. They basically got some minor changes, I think a
Speaker 1: big one with the biggest concession they got was that
Speaker 1: there would be income verification for people who were applying
Speaker 1: for Obamacare.
Speaker 2: That's right. We should talk about the most recent shutdown as.
Speaker 1: Well, twenty eighteen nineteen. I remember this one too like
Speaker 1: it was yesterday.
Speaker 2: It basically was yesterday. And this was obviously when Donald
Speaker 2: Trump said I want a border wall and I want
Speaker 2: five billion dollars to get this thing going, and Democrats said, no,
Speaker 2: you're not, and they had a meeting on TV which
Speaker 2: was really weird. Oh, and Chuck Schumer trick to Donald
Speaker 2: Trump into taking responsibility for the shutdown.
Speaker 1: Did Schumer do it? I thought he just, like, out
Speaker 1: of nowhere asserted it.
Speaker 2: I thought. I remember Schumer sort of tricking him in
Speaker 2: the room into sort of claiming ownership, almost like a dare.
Speaker 2: And Trump was sort of like, yeah, it's my shutdown.
Speaker 2: Oh really because it is important. Yeah, And you know
Speaker 2: you could see Schumer kind of laughing like, oh, I
Speaker 2: don't think he even understands what he just said.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure the Republicans were like, I can't believe
Speaker 1: you just said that.
Speaker 2: That's right. And there was a partial shutdown on December
Speaker 2: twenty second that ran for a historically long thirty five days.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The previous one in twenty thirteen was sixteen days.
Speaker 1: The previous record was the ninety five ninety six one
Speaker 1: combined for twenty six days.
Speaker 2: Those are two.
Speaker 1: This is thirty five days.
Speaker 2: Over Christmas in New Year's which was a tough time
Speaker 2: to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was because again the deadline is October first,
Speaker 1: so they had created continuing resolutions from October first or
Speaker 1: September thirtieth on to December twenty second, and then finally
Speaker 1: on December twenty second. I remember this. Trump had been
Speaker 1: signaling that he was willing to give and I guess
Speaker 1: at least keep negotiating continuing resolutions, and and Coulter, that's right,
Speaker 1: expressed on Trump's behalf that she would not be giving
Speaker 1: on this position, forgot about it, and that the government
Speaker 1: shutdown would go on. And Cultures basically single handedly forced
Speaker 1: this government shutdown because she said, if you give on
Speaker 1: this like we're done, I will vote against you at
Speaker 1: the polls. Make sure nobody else does. And that's when
Speaker 1: Trump's will was bolstered tremendously, and that's when the government
Speaker 1: shutdown happened. That's right, You want to take a break. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how many people are still listening to this?
Speaker 2: Do you think roughly seventy percent?
Speaker 1: We'll be right back, okay, Chuck, So.
Speaker 2: Well, we should we left a cliffhanger. The government was
Speaker 2: shut down when we left.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it came back.
Speaker 2: It came back after how long?
Speaker 1: Again.
Speaker 2: Thirty five days later, on January twenty fifth, Trump called
Speaker 2: off that shutdown without that funding for the border wall,
Speaker 2: again because public perception was swayed not in his favor.
Speaker 1: Right, which is rare. Again, every single one of these shutdowns,
Speaker 1: everyone said it was Congress's fault. With this one, they
Speaker 1: said it was the president's fault. Surely that at least
Speaker 1: partially had to do with him claiming on TV that
Speaker 1: it was his responsibility for shutting down the government.
Speaker 2: That didn't last long though, because I remember, and it
Speaker 2: gets so just childlike and snippy. But with the tweets
Speaker 2: from both sides calling it the Trump shut down, Trump
Speaker 2: calling it the Schumer Pelosi shutdown, trying to hashtag these
Speaker 2: things see what's trending, it's all just so ridiculous, it
Speaker 2: is Twitter.
Speaker 1: So the shutdown ended, and like you said, Trump didn't
Speaker 1: get that five billion dollars for the wall. I think
Speaker 1: they ultimately added like one point six billion for border security,
Speaker 1: but nothing specifically for that wall.
Speaker 2: Right, and the Democrats started saying, well, like, let's a
Speaker 2: really defined wall.
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, I remember that. But what people like to
Speaker 1: point out is, not only did Trump not get that
Speaker 1: five billion dollars, but America lost at least eleven billion dollars,
Speaker 1: yeah right during this shutdown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of income.
Speaker 1: Right, So there's a real economic cost of government shutdowns. Basically, everyone,
Speaker 1: I don't care whether you're a Republican. Stuff you should know, listener,
Speaker 1: A Democrat stuff you should know, listener, An anarchist stuff
Speaker 1: you should know, a listener, A centrist stuff you should know, listener,
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. You should be really mad at your government
Speaker 1: whenever there's a shutdown. That's right, because it is holding
Speaker 1: people's jobs hostage. Yes, millions of people depend directly on
Speaker 1: the federal government for their paycheck, and during a shutdown,
Speaker 1: you don't get a paycheck. Some people even have to work.
Speaker 1: But the people who don't have to work not only
Speaker 1: don't get a paycheck, they will never get that money
Speaker 1: for the work that they missed against their own will
Speaker 1: during that shutdown.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like you can apply for back pay, is that right?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: You can't. No for who, no one can.
Speaker 1: No. If you worked during the shutdown.
Speaker 2: Uh huh.
Speaker 1: You can get retroactive pay. Congress has to approve it,
Speaker 1: but you had to have been working. It had to
Speaker 1: have been in a sense.
Speaker 2: So you can't get back pay for furload time.
Speaker 1: No, okay, it's just gone forever. So people who were
Speaker 1: out of work, who are federal workers, I think about
Speaker 1: eight hundred thousand of them during the twenty eighteen nineteen shutdown,
Speaker 1: the Trump Schumer Pelosi shutdown, they didn't They went without
Speaker 1: pay for thirty five days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, three hundred and eighty thousand of the eight hundred
Speaker 2: thousand federal workers actually had to stop working. That's almost
Speaker 2: every bit of NASA, hud Housing, Urban Development staff, eighty
Speaker 2: percent of National Park Service, fifty thousand workers at the IRS,
Speaker 2: and then the other four hundred and twenty thousand that
Speaker 2: they deemed essential. They still worked, and I believe they're
Speaker 2: the ones that could apply, but they aren't guaranteed that
Speaker 2: money though. Right.
Speaker 1: No, Again, Congress has to vote, and usually as part
Speaker 1: of a shutdown, just to kind of like get public
Speaker 1: perception in Congress's favor, Congress will hold a vote right
Speaker 1: and almost nearly almost every time, nearly unanimously for retroactive
Speaker 1: pay when this thing's over. The problem is is again
Speaker 1: those people who aren't working during that time, whose jobs
Speaker 1: are deemed non essential, they'll never get that money, right,
Speaker 1: they just don't get it.
Speaker 2: And that I mean if you'd project it to your
Speaker 2: future retirement, like, that's money that you're not investing a
Speaker 2: you're not buying things with it, right, So you're not
Speaker 2: helping the American economy.
Speaker 1: Especially during the holidays is last time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're not investing in the stock market, you're not
Speaker 2: taking care of your retirement. So it has these ripple
Speaker 2: effects that last, you know, months and years.
Speaker 1: So just to get a little bit back to the
Speaker 1: nuts and bolts of all this, it's not like every
Speaker 1: time there's a government shut down, the same agency of
Speaker 1: the same people are affected in exactly the same way.
Speaker 1: Each shutdown is different because do you remember how there's
Speaker 1: twelve different appropriations bills that have to go to the president.
Speaker 1: Some of those can be passed and signed sure before
Speaker 1: the shutdown ever happened. If that happens and your agency
Speaker 1: was in one of those appropriations bills, it's like every
Speaker 1: other Tuesday or Wednesday for you during the shutdown.
Speaker 2: Right, But you can straddle those agencies and they can
Speaker 2: be split, and that can get weird.
Speaker 1: It can well like a good example of it getting
Speaker 1: weird is when this past one happened, the Coast Guard,
Speaker 1: which falls under the Homeland Security slice of the pie.
Speaker 1: The Homeland Security hadn't been funded yet, so the Coast
Speaker 1: Guard had to keep its operations going without pay, while
Speaker 1: the rest of the military the other four branches were
Speaker 1: just operating as normally because the Defense Appropriations bill had
Speaker 1: already been passed before the shutdown. That's right, So depending
Speaker 1: on which bills have already been passed, some groups are working,
Speaker 1: some groups aren't. And even in each agency where the
Speaker 1: funding hasn't been appropriated for this coming year, there will
Speaker 1: be some people who will be working and others who aren't.
Speaker 1: And it's up to each agency during a shutdown to say,
Speaker 1: this is how we're going to function during this This
Speaker 1: is the jobs that have to be carried out whether
Speaker 1: the government's open or not. And these are the people
Speaker 1: who can be sent home without ever hopeful, without any
Speaker 1: hopes have ever been getting paid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like you see A you see the thing coming,
Speaker 2: so it's not like a big surprise, but b you
Speaker 2: have this sort of plan already in place. It's called
Speaker 2: you submit it actually to the Office of Management and
Speaker 2: Budget and you coordinate with them rather and that's where
Speaker 2: you know, you got to lay out your plan, like
Speaker 2: they know it's coming and so they gotta plan accordingly.
Speaker 2: And like I remember, I have friends that worked with
Speaker 2: the federal government at the CDC in places like that,
Speaker 2: and you know, they watch the stuff really closely shared.
Speaker 2: Some of them were furloughed and you know, went thirty
Speaker 2: five days without a paycheck.
Speaker 1: Right, And there's so there's that personal level where you
Speaker 1: missed rent that that month. I can't remember who was
Speaker 1: at Wilbur Ross. One of the cabinet members was like, go,
Speaker 1: you know, go take up a craft and or a
Speaker 1: hobby and turn that into like money to pay your
Speaker 1: rent or just something some unsolicited advice that no one
Speaker 1: wanted to hear them. Yeah, So get on Etsy if
Speaker 1: you are, if you are in that position, like, yes,
Speaker 1: you missed rent, you missed your car payment, you missed
Speaker 1: like all sorts of stuff. Even if you're not a
Speaker 1: federal employee, you're still probably affected in one way or another.
Speaker 1: And the longer that a shutdown goes on, the more
Speaker 1: and more people are affected everybody, from people who are
Speaker 1: trying to get their passport application pushed through, to people
Speaker 1: who are supplemental nutrition program recipients, welfare recipients, food stamps,
Speaker 1: children's morning breakfast programs, like all these things start to
Speaker 1: run out of funding and they get affected, and more
Speaker 1: and more people start to be directly impacted by these
Speaker 1: shutdowns the longer they go on.
Speaker 2: Sure the FDA food inspections can be curtailed, and in fact,
Speaker 2: during long shutdowns there are safety experts that say, you
Speaker 2: might want to steer clear of fresh food right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't eat like that bag of romaine lettuce, especially
Speaker 1: if you're pregnant or something.
Speaker 2: Or let me see. The National Park Service this was
Speaker 2: a big win. During the last shutdown, I think they
Speaker 2: some parks were closed all together.
Speaker 1: That's how they did it. In twenty thirteen.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a big one. They lost seventy six
Speaker 2: million bucks a day and lost revenue for the National
Speaker 2: Park Service. But this most recent when some of them
Speaker 2: were shut down, some of them were kept open but
Speaker 2: not staffed, so very famously that was I think it
Speaker 2: was a Joshua tree where they damaged like irreparable damage
Speaker 2: to some of the Joshua trees.
Speaker 1: Somebody cut down at least one Joshua tree, which takes
Speaker 1: centuries to grow, Yeah, so that they could drive their
Speaker 1: off road vehicle in an area where you're not supposed
Speaker 1: to drive an off road vehicle, so they could get
Speaker 1: to it. They cut down a Joshua tree, and that
Speaker 1: became kind of symbolic for that last yeah, last shutdown.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's a range of problems that range from
Speaker 2: inconveniences to not getting paid. But you know, imagine coming
Speaker 2: from another country and planning this thing for a year.
Speaker 2: You put all this money into a trip to come
Speaker 2: see the greatest places in the United States. Sure, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm from wherever. I'm German, Germany, I was gonna say Germany,
Speaker 2: and I want to go see the most beautiful things
Speaker 2: in America. I want to go to the Grand Canyon
Speaker 2: in Yellowstone. And I've had this trip paid for and
Speaker 2: planned and it's not refundable.
Speaker 1: All right, what do you mean Mount Rushmore's closed. I
Speaker 1: can see it right there.
Speaker 2: It's closed. Well yeah, sorry, Franz, Sorry, go see. I
Speaker 2: don't know what else is around there, not.
Speaker 1: Much, No, there's nothing. That's kind of the point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you go see Van Nostron's childhood birthplace right.
Speaker 2: And again these are seemingly like if you ask the
Speaker 2: federal government, they they're like, who cares about that minor inconvenience.
Speaker 1: Well, there was one thing that I came across that
Speaker 1: I found particularly scummy. Chuck during government shutdowns, when other
Speaker 1: people who are working are not getting paychecks.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, here we go.
Speaker 1: Some congress people still get theirs. All congress people do,
Speaker 1: but some have the wherewithal to be like, I'm not
Speaker 1: taking any pay during this shutdown, right, Like maybe I'll
Speaker 1: get it retroactively, that's fine, but you just hang on
Speaker 1: to my paycheck. Other congress people are like, yeah, keep
Speaker 1: the money coming, I need it, which is that's super
Speaker 1: scummy to me. Other people are out of work or
Speaker 1: working and not getting paid, like the TSA famously had
Speaker 1: to work and whether they wanted to or not, and
Speaker 1: they didn't.
Speaker 2: Get paid, or they're calling and sick, they.
Speaker 1: Should yeah, they should not be. Congress should not be
Speaker 1: getting a paycheck during that time because it's Congress's fault.
Speaker 2: I know. I think they said that TSA employee is
Speaker 2: about ten percent at one point, we're calling in sick
Speaker 2: every day. Yeah, after a little while.
Speaker 1: You remember that. Yeah, it was not a good time
Speaker 1: to travel.
Speaker 2: And that's an inconvenience people flying Yep, taken longer.
Speaker 1: When's the next one coming, Chuck, That's what everyone wants
Speaker 1: to know.
Speaker 2: October second.
Speaker 1: We'll keep an ear up for it. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: Now you know everything there is to know about government shutdowns.
Speaker 1: There's more little interesting details, but if you want to
Speaker 1: know about them, you can be a saucy boy or
Speaker 1: girl and look it up on the internet. And since
Speaker 1: I said saucy, it's time for listener mail.
Speaker 2: We have a couple of corrections. We haven't done these
Speaker 2: in a while. We haven't made mistakes in years. These
Speaker 2: are both yours, not to file on. Hey, guys, I
Speaker 2: want to point out that Donald Trump spoke to the
Speaker 2: Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Levvin about the arrest of
Speaker 2: Aesop Rocky, not the king.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everybody was really making a lot of noise about
Speaker 1: that over here because I got it wrong. Uh.
Speaker 2: And he said, I would not have even sent this
Speaker 2: email if Josh hadn't have finished that story with this
Speaker 2: is reality. What I just said is actual facts.
Speaker 1: It was close enough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just a slip at the time.
Speaker 1: Facts are the lower case F.
Speaker 2: And that is from Humpus bove Jerg. What try that again,
Speaker 2: Humpus bove Jerg.
Speaker 1: Let me see, there's a.
Speaker 2: Lot of consonants in there. I'm sure some of those
Speaker 2: are quite silent.
Speaker 1: Wow, I think you nailed it. But you forget the
Speaker 1: grip as that his last name. I think Bob Jerg
Speaker 1: is the middle name of Thompus Sompus grip.
Speaker 2: And I love that he put swede in parentheses, as
Speaker 2: if I had to see that. And then the other
Speaker 2: one was a math thing, and I'm kind of curious
Speaker 2: about this one nuclear semiotics. Josh said, nine thousand seconds
Speaker 2: is four hundred and forty six days. He said, it's
Speaker 2: one hundred and four days, And he said, I know
Speaker 2: you guys are busy in recording and performing calculations, he said,
Speaker 2: but I'm really curious just where that number came from.
Speaker 2: He said, because no combination of multiplying dividing nine million
Speaker 2: by sixty or twenty four yield for sixty six. And
Speaker 2: I'm really just curious. You guys do a great job.
Speaker 2: Thanks for everything, Joey Russo.
Speaker 1: Thanks Joey. I think that that number was where my
Speaker 1: fat thumb and sire you got together and had a baby.
Speaker 1: That's where I think that four forty sixteen from gotcha.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure right after you said that, I went,
Speaker 2: uh huh, that's right. Yeah, So I'm equally to.
Speaker 1: Blaine, thank you Chuck for taking that for the team. Sure,
Speaker 1: team Josh. If you want to get in touch with
Speaker 1: us to let us know what kind of mistakes I've
Speaker 1: been making left and right and Chuck's been abiding. We
Speaker 1: love that stuff, love it, can't get enough of it,
Speaker 1: so get in touch with us. You can go on
Speaker 1: to stuff youshould know dot com and check out our
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Speaker 1: email to stuff Podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com com.
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