Dear Editors:

I read Jake Trump’s April 26 article, “Budget issue fixed in the nick of time,” and I think that the possibility of a government shutdown  was a bigger issue than some people made it out to be. The fact that many government workers would have been out of their jobs for a period of time would have been a big issue in this area.

In our area there are a lot of people who have government jobs and the fact that they would have been out of work and without pay while the congressmen and women who were the ones who could not decide on a budget in the first place but would still be getting paid is absurd.

I was told that the military personnel overseas would also be without pay if there would have been a government shut down.  I just don’t think it is right that the congressmen and women would have been receiving paychecks while there are people overseas protecting our country who would not be able to support their families.

Northern Virginia is a very populated area and many of the families around  here have at least one parent, many times both, who hold government jobs and are also strained by the problems with the economy. I think our area would have been greatly affected by a government shut down because people cannot afford to go without pay when the economy is down and they are busy paying for sports and college, meanwhile making sure they can get food on the table for their families.

I don’t think it was fair to the people with government jobs for the congressmen and women to wait until the last minute to figure out the budget problem. A government shutdown would have been a hard hit to our area as well as the rest of the country.

Maybe next time there is an issue with the budget, Capitol Hill will make a decision more quickly and will not create so much worry. I’m glad Congress eventually agreed and made a decision on the 2011 spending package so that a bigger issue was not caused.

Sincerely,

Erin Fortman