-Cannon- wrote

RTFM_SiLENT wrote he federal government put plans in place Friday for a shutdown that could begin early Saturday in Washington with the erection of metal barriers blocking access to national monuments that would be closed until further notice.

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Even as the White House and Congress were engaged late Friday in last-minute negotiations over the 2011 budget, the National Park Service said it was ready to start cordoning off memorials shortly after sunrise.

Metro had plans for special service Monday, in the event of a shutdown, making arrangements for an extended morning rush hour to take workers in for shutting down procedures and then out again a few hours later.

And District officials adjusted their shutdown plans, among other things, shortening to three days the suspension of trash collection in the event of a shutdown.

But all of the shutdown preparation would be for naught if warring legislators reached some kind of accord on the budget.

The latest moves came on yet another day of uncertainty in Washington, as residents, workers and visitors braved rainy spring weather and wondered what Saturday would bring.

Im absolutely disgusted, Jeanine Kenworthy, 77, of Kerrville, Tex., said of the situation as she snacked at the National Museum of American History. Furious.

Many of the citys most popular tourist attractions were crowded, despite the weather, as tourists tried to jam everything in before the days end.

Peter and Pernille Nejsig, visitors from Denmark, were heading to visit museums. They had planned to do that over the weekend but juggled their schedule because of the shutdown threat.

Well be going to the outlet malls this weekend, said Pernille Nejsig, holding her 2-year-old daughter, Nelly, in her arms.

One piece of indecision was resolved Friday when the National Cherry Blossom Festival announced that its annual parade down Constitution Avenue would go on shutdown or not.

The parade faced cancellation with a federal shutdown, but organizers scrambled to alter its route slightly to avoid the need for it to tread on federal property.


Officials said the shutdown could technically start at 12:01 Saturday morning, although the possibility of an extended deadline still existed.

And although a shutdown was not a certainty, Washington faced the prospect of its grand memorials to Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt being cordoned off to visitors starting around 7 a.m., the Park Service said.

Access to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Korean Memorial could also be blocked, the park service said, if the giant mechanism of the federal government began to close down across the nation.

In the coming hours and days, if a shutdown happens, more of the machinery will come to a halt, as the governments ability to pay its bills officially ends.

National Park Service spokesman Bill Line said, If we have a government shutdown, beginning [Saturday] all national parks in the nation, including those here in Washington, D.C., will be shut down.

It depends on how quickly excepted staff from each of those parks are able to operate and close down the parks, he said. Signs will eventually go up; I cant say at precisely what time informing visitors that the sites are off limits.

There will be what is probably bicycle racking out there used as barricades around such sites as the Vietnam Wall, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the World War II, Korean War and FDR memorials, he said.

Metro, meanwhile, said it plans to extend its rush-hour service on Monday for rail and bus passengers to accommodate federal workers who may be asked to report to their offices to check in or return equipment only to turn around and return home.

Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the transit authority essentially would have back-to-back rush-hour service.

Federal workers typically make up 40 percent of Metrorails rush-hour passengers, she said. The agency has estimated that a shutdown could reduce Metro ridership 5 to 20 percent.

The DC Circulator, the city bus system, would continue to run, according to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and his administration.

The city has a contract with Metro to run the service and has already made a quarterly payment that will keep it running, said Tony Robinson, a spokesman for City Administrator Allen Y. Lew.

The District, as the nations capital and lacking the rights of a state, is overseen by Congress, which has the authority to intervene and overturn city laws.

The District does not have budgetary autonomy and in the case of a shutdown, is treated as if it were another federal agency. The Anti-Deficiency Act prevents the city from spending money.

In the city, residents could expect to see all libraries closed and street sweeping and parking enforcement suspended. However, 911, fire and emergency services, the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Public Schools and public charter schools would operate, according to the citys contingency plan.

Outdoors Friday, hundreds of angry State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development employees spent their lunch hour protesting the prospect of a shutdown.

Hours before the deadline, veteran diplomats and analysts many of whom remembered working through previous shutdowns while stationed abroad poured out of government buildings in Foggy Bottom and gathered in a nearby park, vowing to work next week, if legally permitted, without a paycheck.

Why must we, who work around the Hill, suffer the adverse consequences of those who work on top of the Hill? said Tim Bishop, a representative with the American Federation of Government Employees.

Congress, he said, needs to get together, get the budget passed and move on with the business of America.

Americans traveling or doing business abroad next week could be at risk if a shutdown persists, warned David Hirsch, a State Department employee.

If next week American citizens overseas are unprotected by their government, dont blame us, we want to serve, he said. If next week American businesses cant deal with suppliers or customers from other countries, dont blame us. We want to serve.

Francisco J. Zamora, a veteran USAID employee, said practically everything was pushed aside this week to review plans for an orderly shutdown. Were not actually working on our projects, he said. Your priority is to go towards an orderly shutdown of the government. Youre not really working on your technical areas anymore.

Zamora was in Egypt in 1995 and 1996 when the last shutdowns occurred; this time, he fears childhood immunization programs, economic development projects and poor farmers around the globe could suffer.

The State Departments work on hundreds of unsolved international childhood kidnapping cases would also cease, warned Margaret Pride, a Bureau of Consular Affairs employee. During the last shutdown, she was stationed overseas and ended up escorting a congressional delegation visiting the country (she declined to identify it). She said they should have been back in Washington passing a budget.

I still have scars from my tongue from where I was biting it, she said. We were diplomatic about it.

copy and paste? lmfao

Dreams wrote cant wait at midnight ima run outside naked and scream THERE COMING EVERYBODY HIDE YO KIDS HIDE YO WIFE

RTFM_SiLENT wrote

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he federal government put plans in place Friday for a shutdown that could begin early Saturday in Washington with the erection of metal barriers blocking access to national monuments that would be closed until further notice.

1
Comments
Weigh InCorrections?


More On This Story

How lawmakers could still beat the clock
Budget impasse puts focus on Planned Parenthood, womens health
Budget talks go down to the wire
Live Q&A, 9 a.m. Saturday: Submit questions now
View all Items in this Story
Even as the White House and Congress were engaged late Friday in last-minute negotiations over the 2011 budget, the National Park Service said it was ready to start cordoning off memorials shortly after sunrise.

Metro had plans for special service Monday, in the event of a shutdown, making arrangements for an extended morning rush hour to take workers in for shutting down procedures and then out again a few hours later.

And District officials adjusted their shutdown plans, among other things, shortening to three days the suspension of trash collection in the event of a shutdown.

But all of the shutdown preparation would be for naught if warring legislators reached some kind of accord on the budget.

The latest moves came on yet another day of uncertainty in Washington, as residents, workers and visitors braved rainy spring weather and wondered what Saturday would bring.

Im absolutely disgusted, Jeanine Kenworthy, 77, of Kerrville, Tex., said of the situation as she snacked at the National Museum of American History. Furious.

Many of the citys most popular tourist attractions were crowded, despite the weather, as tourists tried to jam everything in before the days end.

Peter and Pernille Nejsig, visitors from Denmark, were heading to visit museums. They had planned to do that over the weekend but juggled their schedule because of the shutdown threat.

Well be going to the outlet malls this weekend, said Pernille Nejsig, holding her 2-year-old daughter, Nelly, in her arms.

One piece of indecision was resolved Friday when the National Cherry Blossom Festival announced that its annual parade down Constitution Avenue would go on shutdown or not.

The parade faced cancellation with a federal shutdown, but organizers scrambled to alter its route slightly to avoid the need for it to tread on federal property.


Officials said the shutdown could technically start at 12:01 Saturday morning, although the possibility of an extended deadline still existed.

And although a shutdown was not a certainty, Washington faced the prospect of its grand memorials to Lincoln, Jefferson and Franklin Roosevelt being cordoned off to visitors starting around 7 a.m., the Park Service said.

Access to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the World War II Memorial and the Korean Memorial could also be blocked, the park service said, if the giant mechanism of the federal government began to close down across the nation.

In the coming hours and days, if a shutdown happens, more of the machinery will come to a halt, as the governments ability to pay its bills officially ends.

National Park Service spokesman Bill Line said, If we have a government shutdown, beginning [Saturday] all national parks in the nation, including those here in Washington, D.C., will be shut down.

It depends on how quickly excepted staff from each of those parks are able to operate and close down the parks, he said. Signs will eventually go up; I cant say at precisely what time informing visitors that the sites are off limits.

There will be what is probably bicycle racking out there used as barricades around such sites as the Vietnam Wall, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the World War II, Korean War and FDR memorials, he said.

Metro, meanwhile, said it plans to extend its rush-hour service on Monday for rail and bus passengers to accommodate federal workers who may be asked to report to their offices to check in or return equipment only to turn around and return home.

Spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said the transit authority essentially would have back-to-back rush-hour service.

Federal workers typically make up 40 percent of Metrorails rush-hour passengers, she said. The agency has estimated that a shutdown could reduce Metro ridership 5 to 20 percent.

The DC Circulator, the city bus system, would continue to run, according to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and his administration.

The city has a contract with Metro to run the service and has already made a quarterly payment that will keep it running, said Tony Robinson, a spokesman for City Administrator Allen Y. Lew.

The District, as the nations capital and lacking the rights of a state, is overseen by Congress, which has the authority to intervene and overturn city laws.

The District does not have budgetary autonomy and in the case of a shutdown, is treated as if it were another federal agency. The Anti-Deficiency Act prevents the city from spending money.

In the city, residents could expect to see all libraries closed and street sweeping and parking enforcement suspended. However, 911, fire and emergency services, the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Public Schools and public charter schools would operate, according to the citys contingency plan.

Outdoors Friday, hundreds of angry State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development employees spent their lunch hour protesting the prospect of a shutdown.

Hours before the deadline, veteran diplomats and analysts many of whom remembered working through previous shutdowns while stationed abroad poured out of government buildings in Foggy Bottom and gathered in a nearby park, vowing to work next week, if legally permitted, without a paycheck.

Why must we, who work around the Hill, suffer the adverse consequences of those who work on top of the Hill? said Tim Bishop, a representative with the American Federation of Government Employees.

Congress, he said, needs to get together, get the budget passed and move on with the business of America.

Americans traveling or doing business abroad next week could be at risk if a shutdown persists, warned David Hirsch, a State Department employee.

If next week American citizens overseas are unprotected by their government, dont blame us, we want to serve, he said. If next week American businesses cant deal with suppliers or customers from other countries, dont blame us. We want to serve.

Francisco J. Zamora, a veteran USAID employee, said practically everything was pushed aside this week to review plans for an orderly shutdown. Were not actually working on our projects, he said. Your priority is to go towards an orderly shutdown of the government. Youre not really working on your technical areas anymore.

Zamora was in Egypt in 1995 and 1996 when the last shutdowns occurred; this time, he fears childhood immunization programs, economic development projects and poor farmers around the globe could suffer.

The State Departments work on hundreds of unsolved international childhood kidnapping cases would also cease, warned Margaret Pride, a Bureau of Consular Affairs employee. During the last shutdown, she was stationed overseas and ended up escorting a congressional delegation visiting the country (she declined to identify it). She said they should have been back in Washington passing a budget.

I still have scars from my tongue from where I was biting it, she said. We were diplomatic about it.[/

quote]

Got a source for this? Smells like Copy and paste to me.