I'm not sure if you can google it and get an honest answer. Historically only non-essential employees are furloughed which begs the question why are tax dollars paying non-essential people? They can qualify for unemployment, with the requisite waiting period, however, after each shutdown Congress has always authorized payment of what would have been earned during the furlough which amounts to an additional paid vacation, some workers even plan on it. The government shuts down frequently- National Holidays and severe weather events being some examples, but so many functions are on auto-pilot that Social Security, VA and other payments (direct deposit) always go out on time regardless, VA hospitals remain open, Medicare and Medicade patients can still receive care- the impact has never been as catastrophic as the media wants people to believe. Historically the media blames the Republicans for a pending cataclysm that never happens- for example in January of this year Chuck Schumer forced a government shutdown over DACA, but the Democrats were never mentioned or condemned for shutting down the government. As with everything these days, finding the truth is never on the surface, it's the responsibility of citizens to search it out, but most of us are too busy with life to maintain vigilance on our elected officials. That's why they have a method that requires no vote or publicity to grant themselves their next pay raise in the middle of the night. Right now we can't trust much of the media to present the truth. Chicken Little generates revenue, carry on no one got hurt doesn't feed into a 24 hour news cycle.
Caption this Meme
