Here’s the latest chapter in the shutdown drama. It looks like the Legislature will pass budget bills that will keep our state parks open, along with the departments that oversee agriculture and job training. But still no deal on budgets for human services, transportation, and education. Some state workers are starting to feel the strain, especially those with little or no vacation time to see them through a forced work stoppage. At my own workplace, the tension is mixed in with some gallows humor about the situation in which we find ourselves. DHS has probably spent hundreds of thousands–maybe even millions of dollars–in staff time and other resources to prepare for a shutdown. And it will cost even more money to start up again after a shutdown.
It would all be a bit surreal if it wasn’t hurting people financially.
On a completely separate note, it looks like Canada is on its way to legalizing same-sex marriages. A fitting end to Pride Month.
I hope that things work out OK for you and your department, but particuarly for the needed programs.
Spain passed gay marriage today. Canada’s should be done in a wekk, I think. Yay!