Federal government dodges Friday shutdown but gets ready for Round 2

Marshall Space Flight CenterView full sizeMarshall Space Flight Center headquarters on Redstone Arsenal
HUNTSVILLE, AL - In a town with acronyms for everything, today's acronym is "BAU" after Congress voted not to shut down the federal government this Friday.

Business As Usual.

But it isn't really BAU, no matter how brave government workers sounded. The temporary budget agreement reached Wednesday is for only two weeks, so a new shutdown threat arrives March 18.

The shutdowns loom as a divided Congress tries to agree on a spending plan for the rest of the 2011 fiscal year ending Sept 30. House Republicans want $60 billion in cuts, but Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama do not. If there is no compromise, the government loses its authority to borrow funds to pay for operations and the government "shuts down."

But not all of it.

Behind the scenes at Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal and government offices across the nation, people and functions are being divided into "essential" and "non-essential." In a shutdown, essential workers and functions continue. Non-essential ones are furloughed.

A webinar titled "Implications of a Government Shutdown: How Should Contractors Prepare?" drew 80 people Wednesday to a conference room at BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. in Huntsville's Cummings Research Park.

Attorneys from Washington briefed contract managers on the differences between "essential" and "non-essential" people and functions, according to one person present.

There was considerable discussion about how a shutdown could affect contractors' budgets. The government would not process invoices or release funding for contracts during a shutdown, webinar organizer and contractor employee Denise Pelham said. That means paying employees would fall to the contractor if the employees were kept on the job.

Normally, workers would be paid and contracts honored when government started up again, but if it starts up again with billions less to spend - thanks to budget cuts - then adjustments would have to be made.

NASA headquarters in Washington said the "safety of our astronauts in our top priority, and we will take the steps necessary to assure they have the proper support."

NASA referred all other questions to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in Washington, which did not respond to an inquiry Wednesday.

At the Army, the question of who and what is essential was still being reviewed Wednesday in the Pentagon. The military generally continues to function even in a shutdown, if past shutdowns are an indication.

Elsewhere in the government, air traffic controllers continue working, and Social Security checks go out. However, new retirees would face delays enrolling for Social Security, federal parks would close, and tax refunds would be suspended, based on past shutdowns.