Our Government leaders need a kick in the ______!

I agree, or they should have done their job last year. Yes, this is last years work that they havent done. Based on that alone, they should b=not get paid, nor should they get the back pay. They are NOT doing their jobs. The military, they are doing their jobs. They have no choice in where they are or what they are doing. They volunteered to defend our country and this is how they are repaid? ridiculous!

This isn't the first time nor will it be the last that the threat of as government shut down will occur. Matter of fact it's happened in the past! Military personnel will be paid as those funds were allocated over a year ago with allowances made in the allocations for events unforseen. I know this because I was military during one of the previous shutdowns. The shutdown scenario is for non-essential services. For example tours of the White House, Parks and Museums, delays in civil court cases, CDC would not take on tracking any new outbreaks of disease for the term of the shutdown and some federal workers would be basically laid off. We had TWO shutdowns in the 90's which had little long term impact on the larger percentage of the populace. Much of the hype over a shut down is political, striving on the part of the various political parties to sway voters to one side or the other. Part of it is to have a threat to hold over 'each other' in congress, to push forward an agenda for one side or the other. The main issue is that there will be no new allocations of funds for many departments which in the short term will cause little harm, but if a shut down is a long term (over a few months) item, long term results will lower our standards in many areas of life. While this may seem like a valid threat, there will be changes in our standards in many areas even after a budget is ratified and in place. As always we will see funds reduced in some areas and increased in others and the tax burden shift once again to the middle class in increasing amounts.