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October 6, 2013

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Shutdown workers will receive lost pay

Source: Agencies | October 6, 2013, Sunday | Print Edition

Congress and President Barack Obama have not yet found a way to end the US government shutdown, but they are reassuring 800,000 sidelined federal workers that they will be reimbursed for lost pay once the government reopens.

With the partial shutdown entering its fifth day, the Republican-run House passed a bill yesterday that would make sure the furloughed workers get paid for the days they could not work. The White House backs the bill and the Senate was expected to approve it, too, but the timing was unclear. The 407-0 vote in the House of Representatives was uniquely bipartisan, even as lawmakers continued their partisan rhetoric.

“This is not their fault and they should not suffer as a result,” Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said of federal workers. “This bill is the least we should do. Our hard-working public servants should not become collateral damage in the political games and ideological wars that Republicans are waging.”

Representative Michael Turner, an Ohio Republican, said federal workers shouldn’t have to worry about paying their bills while Congress and the White House fight over funding the government. “They have child care expenses, house payments to make, kids that are in college, and while the president refuses to negotiate, while he’s playing politics, they shouldn’t worry about whether or not they can make ends meet,” Turner said.

But even as Congress and the White House rallied around the bill, one outside group said it “demonstrates the stupidity of the shutdown.”

Making the shutdown less painful for 800,000 federal employees will encourage Congress and the White House to extend it even longer, driving up the cost, said Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

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