How's the partial federal government shutdown affecting you?

[smiths02]

Word on the street that if it goes on for a certain number of days, they can have layoffs. Layoffs of dead weight that could free up plenty of budget room.
No one here can deny the government needs to thin their ranks...

Without getting political, it seems like layoffs should happen when there is an actual budget resolution, not because the government cannot get their act together.

 

[wilbret]

Without getting political, it seems like layoffs should happen when there is an actual budget resolution, not because the government cannot get their act together.

Yep. Unfortunately, in politics, you have politicians with a primary focus of staying in power, not looking out for their constituents. They like handing out jobs, even if those jobs are extraneous, useless, without oversight, etc...

 

[DopeyDame]

Word on the street that if it goes on for a certain number of days, they can have layoffs. Layoffs of dead weight that could free up plenty of budget room.
No one here can deny the government needs to thin their ranks...

First, the furlough to layoff requirement specifically doesn't apply to shutdowns.
Second, that's not how federal budgeting work. You can't spend money if it's not meant for that specific thing. So the bureau of widgets and wonks can have all sorts of dead weight and 8 gazillion extra dollars, but you can't take that money and spend it on TSA agents.

 

[rickybobby]

It is being reported now that the majority leader has stated it is not happening.

Pelosi is the majority leader.
https://www.house.gov/leadership

 

[skyblue17]

Pelosi is the majority leader.

She is not, she is the Speaker of the House. The majority leader is Steny Hoyer.

 

[rickybobby]

She is not, she is the Speaker of the House. The majority leader is Steny Hoyer.

Hoyer is the leader on the House floor.
In general, Pelosi is the leader.
Regardless, he would not be the one to announce cancellation of the State of the Union
Watching the news for the last hour, no mention of this, only that Pelosi has suggested it.

 

[skyblue17]

Hoyer is the leader on the House floor.
In general, Pelosi is the leader.
Regardless, he would not be the one to announce cancellation of the State of the Union
Watching the news for the last hour, no mention of this, only that Pelosi has suggested it.

Hoyer was questioned about it following Pelosi's request, I saw it reported via numerous sources on Twitter that his response to questions regarding it was that it would not be happening. And this is the last I will say on this, since we are getting into that gray area again.

 

[cabanafrau]

Word on the street that if it goes on for a certain number of days, they can have layoffs. Layoffs of dead weight that could free up plenty of budget room.
No one here can deny the government needs to thin their ranks...

No one here can discuss that topic -- because it's not allowed.

 

[DopeyDame]

Hoyer is the leader on the House floor.
In general, Pelosi is the leader.
Regardless, he would not be the one to announce cancellation of the State of the Union
Watching the news for the last hour, no mention of this, only that Pelosi has suggested it.

Nope.
Pelosi is the Speaker of the House. Which means she's the leader of the entire House of Representatives. That person always comes from the majority party, simply because typically the parties vote in unison during the vote for Speaker. But the *whole* House votes for Speaker, and the Speaker is the Speaker of the whole House.
On the other hand, each party caucus votes for their leader. So only the democrats voted for Steny Hoyer. He is only the leader of the majority party. His title is, in fact, Majority Leader.

But yes, you're right that Pelosi is the one who wants to reschedule/cancel the SOTU.

 

[wilbret]

No one here can discuss that topic -- because it's not allowed.

I edited my original reply to comply. LOL.

 

[Suz333]

Furlough feds here. My spouse was just called to work without pay, I’m sitting on the couch reading the disboards. Re having savings - we’re lucky enough to have some and have turned down offers of help for now. I feel very badly for those who don’t have savings and want to help but worry about not knowing if we might need that money ourselves if this drags on forever.

Here’s some events that caused us to spend money this past year:

May - air conditioner broke and had to be replaced. ( We live in GA -AC is crucial.) During wiring of new system, workers noticed water damage in a seldom used closet in the garage. Plumbing repairs needed. (Ceiling still needs to be fixed. We didn’t take care of it right then because, well, keep reading)

June - we got married

July - honeymoon. Just a few days before the honeymoon, smelled smoke. Shut down power and waited for electrician to come. Long story short- we were probably just a few minutes away from an electrical fire that could have burned down our house. Thankfully we were home and awake. Almost fire was caused by a faulty breaker and a plumbing leak from the level above leaking onto a light fixture. Electrician turned off power to area , said we needed to have leak fixed before true repairs could be done. So after honeymoon, get plumber out, get leak fixed, get electric issues fixed. Apparently new code involves having interconnected smoke detectors on every level of house and within x number of feet outside every bedroom door. Cost of repairs includes this additional work.

Fall (don’t remember when), notice water seeping onto driveway. Turn off water to entire house, call plumber. Call County about leak. County stops by and leaves notice that if leak is not remediated within x hours, we will be fined. While waiting to get repairs scheduled, have multiple calls with County explaining that we turned off the water ourselves and therefore are wasting zero water so please don’t fine us. Eventually get a bypass to have water again, and then get new pipe.

December- furloughed 12/22.
Friday 12/28 - massive amount of rain. Despite a sump pump with a battery backup plus a whole house generator, basement floods. Make lots of calls but a lot of people in area had flooding. Can’t get anyone to come until Monday 12/31. Sump pump eventually functions and gets out most of water. Saturday 12/29, run out of hot water. Monday 12/31 restoration team comes by. Dry wall carved out , stuff removed to garage. Plumber gets hot water heater working.
Cancel new year’s eve plans, but at least we get to shower.

January 7th ish (not working so days and dates getting fuzzy), restoration team comes to retrieve fans and dehumidifiers, notices a leak by washer in basement. Must stop using. Have spent several days washing sheets and blankets and other items wet from floor. Personal laundry has fallen behind. Want to buy new underwear but don’t want to spend much during shutdown. Eventually get ahold of plumber 3 or 4 days later. Luckily the problem was how the restoration team placed the water pipe from washer back into drain after removing the dehumidifier.

So, five plumbing issues, a flood, a multi day lack of air conditioning, an almost fire that could have killed us, a wedding, and far too many days feeling less clean than I prefer, and all I want is for things to get back to normal. Instead I’m laid off for an unknown amount of time. I have a season pass to Disney but can’t go because I have to be able to report back to work within 4 hours. I’m okay financially for now, but don’t know how to budget on so many unknowns. I’m worried about my coworkers. One has a son with special needs, and I don’t know what her finances are like, and her sister is also furloughed. Another’s husband died about 2 years ago, and I worry that she might be lonely and bored. Another was just starting to recover after the 2008 financial crisis caused her to carry two mortgages for a long time.

Meanwhile, I have important work that is just sitting there. After 3 years of not being able to hire, we finally filled some vacant positions this past summer. I was just starting to feel like maybe the light at the end of the tunnel was daylight and NOT a freight train and now I’m not allowed to work. (Unless you’re on the excepted list, you’re prohibited from working because you aren’t authorized to create an unfunded obligation on behalf of the government. Never mind all of the free extra hours I worked while we were short staffed for so long.)

So, even though I have money to pay my bills, I am stressed. I have an appoved vacation to Disney planned for late February. Technically all leave is canceled during a furlough. People on the excepted list are supposed to work, without pay, despite previously approved plans. I feel so badly for anyone whose holiday was trampled by the grandstanding happening now.

So please understand me when I say I really want this vacation in February. The pass is paid for, we’re staying on DVC points, and our 10K entrance fee over Princess Half Marathon is non-refundable. Please don’t think I’m a spoiled government employee when I say that I still want to go, even if everything on my desk is still behind (presuming we’re open by then.) And please don’t think that I don’t appreciate my job if I go out of town for my non-refundable vacation. I will stay here during the time I was always thinking to be working, but for the approved vacation time? I just want to get to the Disney bubble.

 

[mummabear]

So please understand me when I say I really want this vacation in February. The pass is paid for, we’re staying on DVC points, and our 10K entrance fee over Princess Half Marathon is non-refundable. Please don’t think I’m a spoiled government employee when I say that I still want to go, even if everything on my desk is still behind (presuming we’re open by then.) And please don’t think that I don’t appreciate my job if I go out of town for my non-refundable vacation. I will stay here during the time I was always thinking to be working, but for the approved vacation time? I just want to get to the Disney bubble.

I think the rules are completely unreasonable and leave people in an absolute worst if all scenarios.

I dont understand why preapproved leave is cancelled.

I think it is ridiculous to expect people to work without pay-and with guarantee of back pay.

I also think its ridiculous to have a 4 hour report time, so you arent paying me but expect me to drop everything when you snap your fingers

 

[Christine]

I think the rules are completely unreasonable and leave people in an absolute worst if all scenarios.

I dont understand why preapproved leave is cancelled.

I think it is ridiculous to expect people to work without pay-and with guarantee of back pay.

I also think its ridiculous to have a 4 hour report time, so you arent paying me but expect me to drop everything when you snap your fingers

It is all kind of tough, but it is one of the "deals" you sort of agree to when you take federal employment. Although, I don't think they explain this well enough to new hires (but they should start given our government's instability with budgets over the past 10 years).

Federal employment is never to be viewed like regular employment. I know people will snicker, but it's almost like a higher calling. You truly are a public servant and, often, the public comes first and that's a condition of employment. On the flip side, as part of that agreement with the public, you get some protections in turn. So while it sounds like the terms are awful, we've never really had to see them play out like this.

The shutdown is being handled poorly. The amount of people being forced to be declared essential is what is making this worse. A shutdown should be a "nuclear" option. It should be painful and it should hurt and it shouldn't last more than 3 hours.

What's going on now is cheating in every sense of the word.

 

[NotUrsula]

The State of the Union is a constitutional requirement. It doesn't have to be a speech, it doesn't have to be in the House chambers if it is a speech, and it doesn't have to happen on a specific date, but the President "shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." (Article II, Section 3)

Yep, what is at issue is the ceremonial State of the Union Address before a Joint Session of Congress. It actually makes perfect fiscal sense not to have that dog and pony show during a shutdown, because it is expensive. It's officially a designated National Special Security Event, which by law requires huge numbers of extra Federal LEOs to be on duty during the event, immediately after it, and for several days leading up to it, because it is one of the very few occasions when the leaders of all 3 branches of the US Govt are assembled under one roof (except for fewer than a dozen Designated Survivors who watch it on closed circuit TV from somewhere else.) That is a VERY large target, and particularly since 9/11, the inherent danger requires a massive amount of manpower to make it at all feasible. Insisting on carrying it out during a shutdown would be obscene.

The suggestion was to delay or forego the Ceremony and televised address, not the actual State of the Union Message, so no one is trying to muzzle anyone else -- it is a purely financial decision.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

you get some protections in turn.

Sometimes you also get benefits.

While it's not at the federal level, state employees of my state now get this as a benefit: "Primary caregivers will receive six weeks of paid leave, while secondary caregivers will receive three weeks. The policy specifies that employees will receive 100 percent of their regular salary during leave."

I thought my husband getting a week's worth of paid parental leave was amazing.

I'd love that sort of protection and perk (especially 100% paid) to move on down to the private sector.

 

[Christine]

Sometimes you also get benefits.

While it's not at the federal level, state employees of my state now get this as a benefit: "Primary caregivers will receive six weeks of paid leave, while secondary caregivers will receive three weeks. The policy specifies that employees will receive 100 percent of their regular salary during leave."

I thought my husband getting a week's worth of paid parental leave was amazing.

I'd love that sort of protection and perk (especially 100% paid) to move on down to the private sector.

Nice, isn't it. So far, the feds don't get any paid caregivers leave. I think there is always a push for it, but it's never been approved. I actually don't think it ever will be approved at the federal level.

My son's company, though (private), does offer something like this.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Nice, isn't it. So far, the feds don't get any paid caregivers leave. I think there is always a push for it, but it's never been approved. I actually don't think it ever will be approved at the federal level.

My son's company, though (private), does offer something like this.

I doubt it will either. Maybe it's because it's on such a large scale? IDK.

I honestly think it sucks that certain things like this are missed at a workplace in general cultural thing. I'm really hoping for the day when at least certain things are more the norm (in good ways at least).

 

[runwad]

Geez @Suz333 I'm sorry for all you've been through! It reminded me of what we went through when we moved in our house 25 years ago. We got hit with all kinds of repairs too, thought I bought the money pit. I spent a lot of time crying. But knock on wood after those first few horrible years, we've not had any big hiccups anymore. Sure routine things come up here and there but not all those big expensive things at once. Good luck and chin up, you'll get through this!

 

[mnrose]

They just ran a story on our local news that the MSP TSA needs to hire 40 workers on an urgent basis. Good luck filling those jobs. Come and work for FREE! Lots of people can afford that, right? Made me LOL. Absurd. You'd be out of your mind to hire into that situation, and frankly, I'd be worried about anyone who'd say "yes!"

 

[DopeyDame]

Just a sort of entertaining tidbit from today. One of the excepted feds I work with came into a meeting this afternoon and announced “Entertain me! I’m not getting paid for this sh!t, so you better make it good”
She’s generally hysterical and she’s super passionate about our mission, but it’s clearly getting to her. (FTR, in the 15 years we’ve worked together, alive never heard her curse before!)