Cristy Li

Queen Elizabeth Weighs in on Obama’s & Democrats Govt Slimdown
Erika Lowe/Twitter

(Washington Examiner) Everyone knows (or they should) the phrase ‘Government Shutdown” doesn’t mean the entire government is shutdown–so in a partial government shutdown slimdown like the one underway at the moment, how much of the government is actually shutdown?

One way to measure this is how much money the government spends. Ahead of the government slimdown, the military pay act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama  at the beginning of the slimdown is actually a huge percentage of the government’s discretionary spending in any given year and that is still flowing. So if one takes that money and add it to all of the entitlement money unaffected by the government slimdown together with all of the funds unaffected by the slimdown the actual amount is staggering and one may wonder what all of the brouhaha is all about?

Based on estimates drawn from the Congressional Budget Office and Office of Management and Budget 83% of government operations will continue–this figure assumes the government pays amounts due on appropriations obligated before the shutdown ($512 Billion) spends $225 Billion on exempted military and civilian personnel, pays entitlement benefits for those found eligible before the shutdown (about $2 Trillion) and pays interest costs when due ($237 Billion) This is about 83% of projected for spending of $3.6 Trillion.

So the ‘government shutdown’ at least as measured by money spent is only about a 17% slimdown of federal expenditures.

Related: House Approves Back Pay for Non-Essential Govt Employees

Pentagon Recalls Most Furloughed Civilian Employees