Stephen Dinan reports in The Washington Times:
IRS tax audits would be halted in their tracks, this weekend’s Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington canceled and national parks and the Smithsonian shuttered if Congress can’t reach agreement on annual spending and the government shuts down at midnight Friday. . . .
In the District, the seat of the federal government, the city’s authority to spend its own money would expire Friday at midnight, and trash collections and parking-ticket writing would be halted. . . .
As any resident of the D.C. area can attest, two of the worst plagues of life in Washington are (a) overzealous parking-ordinance enforcement in a city notorious for its shortage of streetside parking, and (b) hordes of idiotic tourists who clog up traffic, especially while gaping at the damned cherry blossoms every spring. So now Mr. Dinan informs us that the immediate local impact of a government shutdown would be that we could park anywhere we want and the stupid Cherry Blossom Festival Parade will be canceled.
Also, no more IRS audits.
Shut it down and praise the Lord.
