Thursday morning
A relatively good night's sleep, considering how busy I am with work stuff, expecting to work through Saturday to get as much done as possible before I'm probably furloughed for an unknown period of time.
I don't know for a fact that I'll be furloughed, but I (finally) learned yesterday that 80% of our staff will be, and I don't expect to be part of the 20% who are either exempt or excepted, because my areas of expertise are not related to my agency's most essential functions.
Today I have a bunch of interviews and checking references and personnel stuff. As I said, NOT related to my agency's most essential functions. They can keep the lights on without me. I'd honestly be surprised if they don't furlough me, they have always furloughed me in the past when we've shut down. But I await the formal and personal notification.
T already knows he will be excepted, he's planning to return to CT/NY on Monday regardless, but he cannot buy his train ticket until Sunday, because official travel cannot cross the appropriation boundary. I have official travel to LA in December, I cannot buy my plane ticket until I know we will have a budget covering my travel dates.
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If you care about this arcane government funding stuff, all eyes are currently on the House, where Republicans still don't agree among themselves about how or even whether to fund the government beyond Saturday. But the government cannot spend money without the House approving it, so even if the Senate passes a bipartisan short-term budget a few days from now (as expected), we'll be waiting on the House to do the same.
Republicans have a five-vote margin in the House, but ten Republicans are saying publicly that they will not vote for ANY short-term budget, period. Instead they want to use the upcoming shutdown to pressure their own House Republican colleagues to pass a conservative annual budget via 12 separate appropriations bills, and then to pressure the Senate and White House to accept their conservative annual budget. But so far the House has only passed one of these separate appropriations bills, and there's no time to pass all the rest before Monday morning. House Republicans disagree among themselves on many of these separate appropriations bills.
There is only one way to keep the government open beyond Saturday at this point: The Speaker of the House would have to hold a vote on a bipartisan short-term budget that is agreeable to the Senate. But he says he will not do this.
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Away from the ridiculousness of DC budget politics, life will go on.
I'll get up at 6:30am and prepare for a morning run. Then I have a busy work day ahead. I plan to cook dinner for us again tonight, and then commute tomorrow. B is planning to come over tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll run again over the weekend, finish up everything on my work To Do List on Saturday, do some house chores with T on Sunday, and then get furloughed on Monday morning LOL. I'll drive T to the train station on Monday, and then settle in for the duration.
If Lawyer David is also furloughed, we have tentative plans to hang out a bunch next week. Hot tub and butt toys and video games LOL.
When we shut down for five weeks back in 2018-2019 I found it easy to lose weight, because if I'm not working I can more easily starve myself.
OK, Bug, let's get up and do Thursday.
I don't know for a fact that I'll be furloughed, but I (finally) learned yesterday that 80% of our staff will be, and I don't expect to be part of the 20% who are either exempt or excepted, because my areas of expertise are not related to my agency's most essential functions.
Today I have a bunch of interviews and checking references and personnel stuff. As I said, NOT related to my agency's most essential functions. They can keep the lights on without me. I'd honestly be surprised if they don't furlough me, they have always furloughed me in the past when we've shut down. But I await the formal and personal notification.
T already knows he will be excepted, he's planning to return to CT/NY on Monday regardless, but he cannot buy his train ticket until Sunday, because official travel cannot cross the appropriation boundary. I have official travel to LA in December, I cannot buy my plane ticket until I know we will have a budget covering my travel dates.
-----
If you care about this arcane government funding stuff, all eyes are currently on the House, where Republicans still don't agree among themselves about how or even whether to fund the government beyond Saturday. But the government cannot spend money without the House approving it, so even if the Senate passes a bipartisan short-term budget a few days from now (as expected), we'll be waiting on the House to do the same.
Republicans have a five-vote margin in the House, but ten Republicans are saying publicly that they will not vote for ANY short-term budget, period. Instead they want to use the upcoming shutdown to pressure their own House Republican colleagues to pass a conservative annual budget via 12 separate appropriations bills, and then to pressure the Senate and White House to accept their conservative annual budget. But so far the House has only passed one of these separate appropriations bills, and there's no time to pass all the rest before Monday morning. House Republicans disagree among themselves on many of these separate appropriations bills.
There is only one way to keep the government open beyond Saturday at this point: The Speaker of the House would have to hold a vote on a bipartisan short-term budget that is agreeable to the Senate. But he says he will not do this.
-----
Away from the ridiculousness of DC budget politics, life will go on.
I'll get up at 6:30am and prepare for a morning run. Then I have a busy work day ahead. I plan to cook dinner for us again tonight, and then commute tomorrow. B is planning to come over tomorrow night. Hopefully I'll run again over the weekend, finish up everything on my work To Do List on Saturday, do some house chores with T on Sunday, and then get furloughed on Monday morning LOL. I'll drive T to the train station on Monday, and then settle in for the duration.
If Lawyer David is also furloughed, we have tentative plans to hang out a bunch next week. Hot tub and butt toys and video games LOL.
When we shut down for five weeks back in 2018-2019 I found it easy to lose weight, because if I'm not working I can more easily starve myself.
OK, Bug, let's get up and do Thursday.