Quote Originally Posted by emily_the_spoiled View Post
Getting back to the original question ... most other national governments do not have this type of problem with their national budgets. There are a numbers of reasons for this, including that many countries have a parliamentary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_system) system of government which tends not to split the two houses (House and Senate) because of the way votes are counted. Additionally many other countries are not as politically polarized as the US, which tends to leave more room for concensus.

Thank you, E-t-S! This helps me understand it a lot better!

There was a demonstration at the Federal Plaza today in Chicago. One man said he works for the EPA and if the government shuts itself down, he would be unable to continue his work of cleaning up environmental spills and other chemical exposures, with an unknown effect on the environment as those substances go untouched. And another person said he is supposed to be traveling out of the country for business later this year, but if he doesn't get his passport he's in big trouble. I think the federal government should stay open while elected officials try to sort this out. Hey, Congress, how about you pay those folks out of your paychecks instead of letting them all get furloughed, and you be the ones to get reimbursed once the "shutdown" ends.