With midnight on Saturday, the panic started setting in. It has just gotten worse in the last 72 hours: the nation, we are told, is going to collapse. Government workers aren’t.
Here is one example, which is of particular interest to us here at The Price of Liberty, because we are involved in environmental engineering and consulting, including occupational and miner safety and health. An online magazine, WorkSafety24, had this headline and text:
Partial government shutdown impacts safety-critical agencies
Portions of the U.S. Federal Government shut down at midnight Jan. 31 after Congress failed to pass legislation to distribute FY 26 appropriations.
Impacted safety-critical agencies include:
- In the Department of Labor (SOL):
- OSHA: Occupational Safety & Health Administration
- MSHA: Mine Safety & Health Administration
- In the Department of Transportation (DOT):
- FAA: Federal Aviation Administration
- In the Department of Homeland Security (DHS):
- FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency
“It is our hope that this lapse will be short,” said Russell T. Vought, Office of Management and Budget director, in a Jan. 30 memorandum. “The [Trump] Administration will continue working with the Congress to address recently raised concerns to complete appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026.”
Yep, all kinds of alphabet soup agencies. Notice that CBP and ICE, both in DHS, are not listed. Why? Well, for one, they aren’t supposedly directly related to worker and miner safety. And of course, that is the excuse for again not approving spending for FY2026. Which actually began back in October: 4 months ago: a full 1/3 of a year!
Government shutdowns, once thought of as rare, are now common. But we’ve had this problem for a long time. Indeed, the federal fiscal year (FY) changed from starting on 1 July to 1 October as a result of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which was signed into law on 12 July 1974. Why? Because once again that year, Congress could not agree on a spending bill. Notice that the new law was signed 12 days after the budget should have been in effect!
It didn’t help. Government shutdowns of various lengths and of various parts of the FedGov are business as usual. So are “continuing resolutions” which in essence say “spend money at the same rate as last year while we figure this out.”
This is, of course, stupid. And since these delays in approving budget bills are always – ALWAYS! – due to political fights, often on some “critical issue de jour” that was of little importance before (or after) the delay, the politicians scream like Chicken Little about how much damage will happen.
But the reality is almost always that little or nothing happens. A few fedgov employees don’t get paid as usual, a few contractors don’t get paid. And some, with bad cash flow problems, go under.
But all of the sudden, thousands more workers (or hundreds, or dozens) don’t suddenly get injured, sick, or killed. Ditto for miners. Ditto for air travelers or drivers on highways. Planes don’t start falling from the air: trains don’t start screeching off the tracks. Massive traffic jams and multi-vehicle accidents don’t make the headlines. At least not more than usual, when all these bureaucrats and contractors are getting paid on-time. (With money taken from taxpayers, present or future.)
So the headlines about shutdowns of the appropriations bill are clickbait, selling advertising and subscriptions. And letting the politicians rave about how important they are in denying some program they declare is evil, or in rescuing some “critically essential” program.
The more governments suck the blood of American families and business, the more governments seek to micromanage every minute of our day, the more parasites and predators are enabled by government? The more we will see this kind of mostly bogus drama.
The solution? An old LP bumper sticker has it right: “Starve a feeding bureaucrat.” Cut the power of government, make the parasites stand on their own two feet, cut the funding, cut the borrowing, and tell the politicians to shut up and get real jobs. Anything less isn’t really going to help.
About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.
The Price of Liberty 
What is left? Are you and I in danger?
With midnight on Saturday, the panic started setting in. It has just gotten worse in the last 72 hours: the nation, we are told, is going to collapse. Government workers aren’t.
Here is one example, which is of particular interest to us here at The Price of Liberty, because we are involved in environmental engineering and consulting, including occupational and miner safety and health. An online magazine, WorkSafety24, had this headline and text:
Partial government shutdown impacts safety-critical agencies
Portions of the U.S. Federal Government shut down at midnight Jan. 31 after Congress failed to pass legislation to distribute FY 26 appropriations.
Impacted safety-critical agencies include:
“It is our hope that this lapse will be short,” said Russell T. Vought, Office of Management and Budget director, in a Jan. 30 memorandum. “The [Trump] Administration will continue working with the Congress to address recently raised concerns to complete appropriations for Fiscal Year 2026.”
Yep, all kinds of alphabet soup agencies. Notice that CBP and ICE, both in DHS, are not listed. Why? Well, for one, they aren’t supposedly directly related to worker and miner safety. And of course, that is the excuse for again not approving spending for FY2026. Which actually began back in October: 4 months ago: a full 1/3 of a year!
Government shutdowns, once thought of as rare, are now common. But we’ve had this problem for a long time. Indeed, the federal fiscal year (FY) changed from starting on 1 July to 1 October as a result of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which was signed into law on 12 July 1974. Why? Because once again that year, Congress could not agree on a spending bill. Notice that the new law was signed 12 days after the budget should have been in effect!
It didn’t help. Government shutdowns of various lengths and of various parts of the FedGov are business as usual. So are “continuing resolutions” which in essence say “spend money at the same rate as last year while we figure this out.”
This is, of course, stupid. And since these delays in approving budget bills are always – ALWAYS! – due to political fights, often on some “critical issue de jour” that was of little importance before (or after) the delay, the politicians scream like Chicken Little about how much damage will happen.
But the reality is almost always that little or nothing happens. A few fedgov employees don’t get paid as usual, a few contractors don’t get paid. And some, with bad cash flow problems, go under.
But all of the sudden, thousands more workers (or hundreds, or dozens) don’t suddenly get injured, sick, or killed. Ditto for miners. Ditto for air travelers or drivers on highways. Planes don’t start falling from the air: trains don’t start screeching off the tracks. Massive traffic jams and multi-vehicle accidents don’t make the headlines. At least not more than usual, when all these bureaucrats and contractors are getting paid on-time. (With money taken from taxpayers, present or future.)
So the headlines about shutdowns of the appropriations bill are clickbait, selling advertising and subscriptions. And letting the politicians rave about how important they are in denying some program they declare is evil, or in rescuing some “critically essential” program.
The more governments suck the blood of American families and business, the more governments seek to micromanage every minute of our day, the more parasites and predators are enabled by government? The more we will see this kind of mostly bogus drama.
The solution? An old LP bumper sticker has it right: “Starve a feeding bureaucrat.” Cut the power of government, make the parasites stand on their own two feet, cut the funding, cut the borrowing, and tell the politicians to shut up and get real jobs. Anything less isn’t really going to help.
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About TPOL Nathan
Follower of Christ Jesus (a christian), Pahasapan (resident of the Black Hills), Westerner, Lover of Liberty, Free-Market Anarchist, Engineer, Army Officer, Husband, Father, Historian, Writer, Evangelist. Successor to Lady Susan (Mama Liberty) at TPOL.