Take This Job And Fund It

 I was pretty sure that, before I looked it up to check, that members of Congress keep getting paid even when the government gets shut down. This was true the last time this happened between December 2018 and January 2019. For thirty-five days, federal employees were asked to work without pay or simply stay home. Parks were closed. A whole lot of things didn't get done. But senators and represented didn't miss a check. 

You may be curious, as I was, how this could come to pass. Turns out that it's written into our constitution. It's there to make sure that discussion and debate can continue about budgetary matters even though most of the rest of the machine has been turned off. You may have heard that President Biden signed a bill recently to keep the doors open. Until December third. 

No need to panic, right?

Okay. But what about this nonsense about how the folks whose job it is to keep the lights on continue to fuss with each other and play chicken with partisan tractors loaded up with everyone else's possessions. Equipped with ejector seats and bubble wrap to keep the drivers safe from harm. The tractors themselves? Not so much. If everyone else and their lives end up in the ditch, the average salary of $174,000 a year is not on the table. This is not true of the average Joes and Joans who sweep up after them. 

Oh. And let's not forget the federal employees who are and have been working night and day to contain a global pandemic. This thankless job could also be one without a paycheck. 

Meanwhile, back in the Capitol, the lights are on and the arguing continues to be supported by the good graces and funding of a government and its people. I am sure I would not be the first to suggest that those salaries could be held up and used to pay for the Joes and Joans previously mentioned while they hammer out whatever agreement they can muster. I also understand that missing a check when you are making upwards of one hundred thousand dollars a year probably doesn't mean as much, but it would at least be sending a message to their accountants. And pool cleaners. And publicists. And so on. 

Or just go ahead and switch the C-SPAN feed to all streaming services and make it a betting proposition. Let folks bet on just how close our elected representatives will come to driving their tractors into the ditch. Or better yet, make them actual tractors and strap them into the seats. I would pay to watch that.