Government Shutdown 2011

Government Shutdown 2011 - Congressional Democrats are accusing Republicans of setting Washington on course for a shutdown, warning that if the government goes off-line over a budget impasse it will count as a GOP "failure."

The government has been operating since October 1, 2010 -- the beginning of fiscal year 2011 -- under a series of continuing resolutions: budgets where Congress simply re-ups funding for programs at previous years’ levels, with a tweak here and there, but usually no major changes.

"There's a perception that was not present in 1995 that public employees are almost a privileged class," said Richard Vedder, an economics professor with Ohio University who studies the labor movement.

The federal employee unions are pushing back hard against the GOP-proposed cuts as lawmakers debate a spending bill to fund the government for the rest of 2011. Republicans want to cut $61 billion from 2010 spending levels, while Democrats are pushing for far more modest fiscal trimming.

They say making serious cuts now is the only way to show the government is serious about reigning in a skyrocketing national debt.

Some House freshmen have already threatened to vote “no” for any proposal, even a very short-term one, that doesn’t deliver the $100 billion in cuts they’re demanding.

It’s that cohort that appears to be hardening Boehner’s message, leading Republican leadership from their stance a month ago, when they were scoffing at the idea of a full-out shutdown, to today, where a shutdown seems so likely that the two parties are already pointing blaming fingers across the aisle.

Should the government shut down, here's what would happen in Nevada:

- almost 400,000 Nevadans could stop receiving Social Security checks

- more than 275,000 could lose Medicare coverage

- nearly 250,000 could lose Medicaid coverage

- nearly 250,000 veterans, as well, would stop receiving their benefits

- more than 10,000 military employees, and almost 40,000 federal employees and retirees, would stop receiving their checks

And if the shutdown persists, tax refunds would be delayed for the nearly 1 million Nevadans who receive them every year.