Don’t mess with my cherry blossom festival

“Administration: Shutdown would furlough 800,000 federal workers

By Ed O'Keefe and Michael E. Ruane

Countdown to closure:

2:09:09:32

Officials began warning Wednesday of significant cutbacks in government services as the threat of a federal government shutdown lurched one day closer to reality.

Failure to reach a budget deal would mean furloughing about 800,000 federal employees nationwide — many of whom are expected to surrender their BlackBerries, according to senior administration officials familiar with shutdown planning. A shutdown might also require organizers to cancel Washington’s storied Cherry Blossom Parade, which is scheduled to occur Saturday morning along the Mall.

The District could feel the impact most especially, with trash collection suspended and D.C. libraries and Department of Motor Vehicle offices closed during a funding lapse unless Congress acts to provide the federal funding needed for those operations, according to the senior officials. Trash collection would not start again until one week after the shut down, and street sweeping would be suspended.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray was scheduled to provide an update on the District’s contingency plans at a 2 p.m. news conference.

Congressional staffers from both sides of the aisle continued last-ditch negotiations Wednesday, but showed no sign of bridging their differences over how many billions of dollars to slash from the 2011 budget.

With little more than 48 hours remaining before the current funding resolution expires, federal agency heads, workers, and untold numbers of tourists and Washington-area residents were forced to focus on what life would be like if the government halts non-essential services.

National parks and Smithsonian museums would close. Many government Web sites would stop updating information and many White House staffers would be sent home. Current Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security beneficiaries would continue receiving payments, but only for a short time. Taxpayers submitting income tax returns through the mail would not immediately receive payments and federal small business loans would stop.

(RELATED: What will be open? What can I expect?)

Despite the ongoing talks, a senior government official said Wednesday that “From a good housekeeping perspective” the government must begin preparations.

A key question still looming for hundreds of thousands of Washington-area federal workers is whether they would have to work through an impasse — without pay. Departments began answering questions Wednesday morning.

In an e-mail, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she and the president “are very much aware that a shutdown would impose hardships on many employees as well as the groups and individuals our department serves.”

But “prudent management requires that I plan for an orderly shutdown should Congress fail to pass a funding bill.” If a shutdown occurs, Sebelius said workers will learn their fates no later than Friday.

Federal employees received similar messages across the government with a link to a Q&A answering several queries regarding pay and benefits. The Q&A did not answer simple logical questions regarding a shutdown — including who would collect BlackBerries and when they would be returned; officials familiar with shutdown planning said those details are forthcoming.

Rep. James Moran (D-Va), whose Northern Virginia district is home to thousands of federal employees, said furloughed workers should not expect to be paid, based on feedback he is getting from Republican colleagues in Congress.

“It is highly unlikely that about 1 million federal employees who are not working will ever be reimbursed,” Moran said in a conference call Wednesday with reporters. He called the majority of his GOP colleagues “far more anti-government in terms of their mindset” than former House Speaker Newt Gingrich during the 1990s shutdown, when Congress agreed to reimburse furloughed workers retroactively.

Despite the threat of cancelation, Cherry Blossom parade spokeswoman Danielle Piacente said organizers are discussing alternate plans. “We’re optimistic that the festival parade and other festival events will move forward as scheduled,” she said, urging potential attendees to visit the parade Web site for updates.”