Government shutdown: gov workers will just get a paid vacation?

[Andrew-Austin]

I've heard that many government workers will get paid anyways, that they were paid in previous shutdowns like the one 1995.

I initially wanted to ask "how is that even possible", but that would be a stupid question. But will it work this way, and if so then what is the point of a government "shutdown"? How is this supposed to save money, what does it accomplish, if it just cuts the electricity bill? How does it reduce spending? I know relatively speaking whatever the shutdown would save, it would be insignficant, pennies when you look at the larger picture. But technically just how does it save money when the workers get paid anyways?

http://www.fedsmith.com/article/2771...they-will.html

If you look on this site for government workers, a majority voted that they anticipate they will still get paid, and some of the comments attest that they were paid in such situations in the past, that they had just received paid vacations.

3. If there is a shutdown, do you anticipate that federal employees will be paid for the time the government is not open for business?
Yes they will be paid 45.3% 1,158
No they won't get paid 37.9% 969
Undecided 16.9%

I also read that it is up to the heads of the various agencies to plan their own shutdown, so does this entail the power that they can just send out paychecks during the shutdown?

[TheNcredibleEgg]

Yup - gov't shutdowns are just political shows. They don't save any money.

Workers always get back pay as agreement in the budget resolution that eventually passes in the future. And they will this time also. The Republican House leadership won't have the backbone to not issue back pay - prolly somewhat justified - since the media would crucify them over it.

[Kludge]

Has nothing to do with saving money. For almost all governments, there is an annual budget bill to fund all operations for the year. When one side refuses the budget proposed by the other side, there will be a stalemate until enough compromises are made. Sometimes, compromises aren't by the time the previous budget bill expires, and gov't is "shut down" - meaning no work is authorized for pay. Like TNE said, all employees are generally paid backpay since the fault (if you view it as a fault at all) is the Congressmen's, so they make up for it by paying them... taxpayer funds. Nothing good comes out of gov't shutdowns at any level except to show how little these governments do for us.