[Ed-M: I'm allowing this - as edited - only on the ludicrously tenuous presumption that this also affects the Air Force football program. Comments disabled because obviously. Also be on notice that political sensors are running higher this week.]
This post is intended to clear up a few questions and rumors and I promise you it is as politically neutral as you can get. You don't care what I have to say about politics and I assure you I don't care what you have to say.
As you have probably heard, there is an impending government shutdown on the horizon (monday, actually). Here are a few quick bullets on what this actually means, which may differ from what you've already read / heard.
- This mainly affects governement civilian employees. In the event of a shutdown, they will not report to work on monday. This does not include congressmen, the president, etc.
- It's not clear on how much this will affect State employees although a lot of federal programs and grants that states receive may cease to exists, at least until congress decides what to cut and what not to cut.
- The military will not, I repeat, WILL NOT shut down.
The last bullet is the main reason I'm posting this because, well, I'm in the Air Force and it pertains to me. I've read a lot comments on blogs, forums, and other online media outlets of people worrying about that as well as fielded a bunch of questions from my family back home (I'm stationed just outside St. Louis right now although I'm from Mich).
"But the military are federal employees and the talking head on TV told me that they might not get paid..."
False. As per AF.mil:
Service members, the official said, "will continue to earn money" in the event of a shutdown.
But because there wouldn't be any money to pay out to service members during a shutdown, the official said, they would have to wait to be reimbursed.
"They will be paid once we have money again to pay them," the official said.
Essentially the government is going to be running a tab with all of us until a new budget resolution is reached.
Thank you in advance for your time and Go Blue!
