The Federal DOT Has Been Closed

Posted on March 1, 2010 
Filed Under IN THE NEWS

closedThe FMCSA is currently closed, due to lack of funding. How funny is that? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t totally understand the how’s and why’s of what Congress did or didn’t do. Nevertheless, it appears that late Friday, the Senate was approving a 30 day stop-gap measure to keep the DOT going, which is always done by unanimous consent, and all the Senators always go, ‘aye’, and the money gets spent. Except this time. Retiring Senator Jim Bunning (R) from KY, who threw a perfect game for my Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, did not consent. And then the Senate adjourned until Tuesday, so there’s no money until they get Senator Bunning on board.

Don’t feel too bad for your local DOT auditor though. The last time this happened to them in 1995, I was working there. We stayed home a day or two, and then went back to work, and got paid just as if we were at work. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly they resolve this, my guess is the FMCSA will be open for business on Wednesday. Hopefully, there won’t be death and mayhem on the highways before then without the government to protect us. My guess is there won’t be.

Comments

Leave a Reply