"Then shut it down."

Any West Wing watchers out there? I may be mildly obsessed with President Bartlett and his smarty-pants staff. Remember the "shutdown" episode? When the Republicans control Congress and the President refuses to compromise on (yet another) continuing resolution? And President Bartlett walks up to the Capitol to try and settle the budget impasse?

(click here for a link to the climax of the episode @ 3:03)

Think that will happen for real? Will Obama and Boehner work out their differences tonight or will there be a dramatic solution at the 11th hour? Because if it doesn't, they don't, and there isn't...I don't get paid on Friday. Or any other day till Congress sorts it out. Neither do 800,000 other* employees of the federal government. Regardless of your political affiliation, I think we can all agree that putting that many people out of work (even temporarily) during a recession is not so smart. Not so smart at all.

*But wait - what's that you ask? Do I work for the federal government? No. I do not. But thanks to a funny little quirk of Congressional oversight, the District of Columbia is not allowed to spend its own local funds without Congressional approval.

It's okay - go back and read that sentence again. It takes a minute to sink in.

DC must have Congressional permission to keep the city running during a federal shutdown. And Congress has not been willing to give permission. So, no trash pick-up. No libraries. No non-essential city services. No paycheck for me. Check out more details here.

And keep your fingers crossed for me - perhaps cooler heads will prevail in the Capitol tonight.