Federal IT

The Real Reasons Why the Government Shut Down

Nextgov: When the government shuts down, the politicians pipe up.

No sooner had a midnight deadline passed without congressional action on a must-pass spending bill than lawmakers launched their time-honored competition over who gets the blame for their collective failure. The Senate floor became a staging ground for dueling speeches early Saturday morning, and lawmakers of both parties—as well as the White House and political-activist groups—flooded the inboxes of reporters with prewritten statements castigating one side or the other.

Led by President Trump, Republicans accused Senate Democrats of holding hostage the entire government and health insurance for millions of children over their demands for an immigration bill. “This is the behavior of obstructionist losers, not legislators,” the White House said in a statement issued moments before the clock struck midnight. In a series of Saturday-morning tweets, Trump said Democrats had given him “a nice present” for the first anniversary of his inauguration. The White House vowed that no immigration talks would occur while the government is closed, and administration officials sought to minimize public anger by allowing agencies to use leftover funds and by keeping national parks and public lands partially accessible during the shutdown—in effect, by not shutting down the government as fully as the Obama administration did in 2013.

Read article

Top Stories

• Closing the Digital Divide in Government: 5 Strategies for Digital Transformation
• Hackers used legit remote monitoring software to hack agency networks
• What Motivates Remote Workers to Protect IT Assets?
• Governments View Open Source as Critical for Enhancing Digital Services, Experts Say
• The federal government is moving on memory safety for cybersecurity
• IT leaders’ top 12 takeaways from 2022
• GAO Highlights Interoperability Challenges With Zero Trust
• Commerce Seeks IT Subject Matter Expert Support
• IT leaders weigh the case for innovation in industry clouds
• FITARA scorecard sees 7 agencies increase their marks amid cyber methodology changes
• Almost 9 in 10 Federal Agencies Using or Considering 5G, Per Study
• Making a Successful Shift to Digital-first Government
• 8 reasons why digital transformations fail
• Report finds Census Bureau lacks ‘effective cybersecurity posture’ after red team hack
• What transformational leaders too often overlook
• (More) Clarity in the Clouds – What’s Needed to Secure Multi-Cloud Environments

Whitepapers & Special Reports

2023 Data Storage Trends

The Benefits of IT Modernization for Federal Agencies

Data Protection in 2023 and Beyond

The Benefits of HCI for Federal Agencies

2023 Data Storage Trends

View Point: Storage On-Demand

AI and HPC for Government Enhance Public Service and Security with Artificial Intelligence Powered by High Performance Computing Systems

The State of Cybersecurity