Furlough Scare: Part II

Should federal employees be worried about furloughs if Congress and the administration don't reach a deal soon on raising the debt ceiling?

Yes, according to William Galston, senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. "Without an agreement, the government won't have the money to pay federal employees, and most of them would have to be furloughed immediately, or within a few days," Galston wrote in response to a question during a live web chat Wednesday on the debt ceiling.

There is no clear roadmap for agencies or federal employees to follow if the government defaults on its obligations after Aug. 2. The ramifications might not be obvious in the short term. As long as there is money in the coffers, government operations will continue, but once funds start to dry up, the Obama administration will have to choose which employees and which services to continue paying -- politically painful decisions.

So will Uncle Sam have the money to pay his bills and run the daily operations of government?

"From Aug. 3 to Aug. 31, we'll take in about $170 billion, versus about $300 billion in legal obligations. The Republicans wants the Treasury Secretary [Geithner] to choose which obligations to honor," wrote Galston. "He says he doesn't have the legal authority to do that. On Aug. 3 alone, he'll have $12 billion in his cash register but is scheduled to send out $23 billion in Social Security checks. What is he supposed to do?"

A February report from the Congressional Research Service, however, argued that failing to raise the debt ceiling "would not bring the government to a screeching halt the way that not passing appropriations bills would," it said, quoting a 1995 Congressional Budget Office report. "Employees would not be sent home, and checks would continue to be issued."