8:49 PM, September 30, 2013
...At the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, (click here) home to the Army’s Tank Automotive Command, and at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, several thousands of civilian workers were expected to be furloughed if the government was shut down. Paul Veselenak, President of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1658, said he expected most of the union’s 5,000 workers at the two facilities to get notices in the event of a shutdown.“This is slowly strangling our ability to do our jobs,” said Veselenak, adding that most of the employees already had six furlough days this year. “How can we do our jobs if we’re not here?”
They’re not the only ones who would be affected.
While Social Security checks will go out and Medicare benefits for elderly persons will remain in place, federal benefits under the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program for low-income women and their children would be suspended. The program helps as many as 20,000 people in Michigan every month.
Thousands of workers — from corrections workers and air-traffic controllers to customs and border patrol agents, not to mention active duty military — will remain on the job, but potentially without pay. Those deemed essential would have to stay on the job and wait until a new spending bill is arranged to get their back pay.
Veterans Affairs services, including hospitals, will remain up and running, and benefit checks will still be sent for now. But if a shutdown were to last through late October, claims processing and payments could stop.
Everyone points to the mail being delivered. The US Postal Service is NOT a government institution.
The mail will still be delivered and taxes collected, but hundreds of employees in Michigan — like Forest Service workers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel and U.S. Census workers — would be sent home and facilities shut down. And even as members of Congress continued to get paid, many district offices would close with no way for constituent questions or claims to be answered or processed.
Federal courts would remain open for the next 10 business days, but by mid-month, judicial officials in Washington would have to reassess available funding.
About 900 Michigan National Guard technicians across the state are expected to be furloughed; about 12,000 more National Guard personnel would see their monthly training missions canceled....
Poaching Enforcement will end. That means endangered species and migratory birds at the height of migration will be threatened further.
