Government Shutdown - What about Congress?

First off, our government is not shutting down. For all those who don't know, since our attentions are more focused on Charlie Sheen and "Friday" than our government. A government shutdown is when a government discontinues providing services that are not considered "essential". The issue of government shutdown has been in the talks for awhile now, but President Obama has been able to prolong government life by signing a bill, which gave it an extra three weeks for the government to discuss about.

The next big question is about that Senates' new proposal, which will halt Congress member's paychecks if a shutdown does ensue. This is a very admirable merit of our government and should be praised, but the chances of it being passed is highly unlikely, since opposition from the House of Representatives are much higher. This may be due to the fact that Senators make much more than newly appointed House members. Senators have a much more comfortable net worth of 2.4 million dollars compared to a House member whose median net worth is approximately 732,000 dollars (in 2009). Either way, it is still a "comfortable" number, except if you have six kids, student loans, and a mortgage to worry about, like new House member, Sean Duffy.

The Congress is too "essential" for a shutdown, therefore while non-"essential" employees may possibly have to worry about their much more thinly line pockets, the bill, which was unanimously passed by the Senate will most likely not go through House.

Therefore let's see what happens with our government on the fateful day of April 8th.