Posted on 09/24/2023 7:10:28 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
With six kids under the age of 15 to support, Stephen Booth, a police officer for the Air Force in Kansas, doesn’t have room in his budget for a missed paycheck.
But like millions of other government employees across the country, Booth is bracing for his pay to stop indefinitely at the end of the month as Congress careers toward a government shutdown.
House Republicans left Thursday unable to reach a compromise within their ranks over a new budget, including funds for the Defense Department, with a handful of conservative holdouts demanding additional spending cuts. Unless Congress acts, the federal government will not be able to pay its 4 million employees after Sept. 30.
The shutdown comes at a particularly precarious time for many households already struggling with persistent inflation that has driven up the cost of rent, child care, groceries, transportation and utilities. At the same time, a string of Covid-era benefits have been expiring, such as the child tax credit, rental assistance and the pause on student loan payments, which are now set to resume in October. To cope, households have been spending down their savings and increasing their credit card debts over the past year.
“It’s really rice and beans time,” said Amad Ali, a claims specialist with the Social Security Administration in New Albany, Indiana, and president of his local AFGE union. “Most of us are dedicated civil servants and we keep on doing it, we keep on pushing forward, but it’s tough.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Bulls%#&!,,
With all the past shutdowns not a single government worker has ever lost a single day of pay.
Ever!
Shutdowns are paid vacations for government workers.
Usual theater. I don’t know why people get here get so excited after so many times of the same BS.
I don’t recall NBC writing sob stories about the workers laid off due to “vaccine” mandates.
I don’t recall NBC writing sob stories about the Jan 6 trespassers who couldn’t (and still can’t) support their families while recipients of undue process.
I don’t recall NBC writing sob stories about the Canadian truckers who had their bank accounts frozen.
I don’t recall NBC writing sob stories about the families impacted by teams of feds taking out their loved ones while storming their houses at 6 am.
Screw NBC.
The US treasury takes in $14.5 BILLION every day, day in, day out. That is around $500 million in taxes every hour. All they have to do is prioritize the payouts. Why is it all or nothing?
Last time there was a major shutdown, some federal employee friends were whining like babies that they got a vacation with deferred pay.
I reminded that the only reason we knew each other was that I lost my job of 18 years with zero notice, had to sell my home at a $75000 loss and move my family 600 miles for a new job.
That shut their whines up real quick.
Government drones facing shutdown-I don’t care.
Good. They can take the opportunity to find a real job; a job that contributes positively to American society.
Why are we hiring police officers to protect military bases? What’s wrong with that picture? 😏
Don’t kid yourself...The LAW says they get paid as soon as it is over. Here on the east coast...Fall is just beautiful...They’re hoping so bad to get shut down. One big paid vacation.
That’s too loud. They don’t need that much volume. jmo
the democrats are more worried about their Illegals the Leeches
....I’ve got news for Stephen Booth and his “millions” of fellow federal employees, to wit: “Stephen, just as you cannot afford a helicopter to fly yourself to work each day and avoid an hours long commute in traffic, the American taxpayer cannot afford you.
No matter who’s in power, meaning democrats or republicans or the Uni Party.........this country is BROKE and the day will come when there is simply no money in government checking accounts to pay “millions” of federal employees.
As a former govt employee who went through a couple of shut downs; I can attest that they will eventually get that back pay.
Can they dump the IRS and their gun buys? FBI? Dept of Education? All the swamp in DC? Get some good old vigilante Texans on the border?
Dusting off the ole shutdown fear talking points.
This happens every time the Pubbies hold some power.
[I recall one shutdown in the mid-90s. It was so severe that hardly anyone noticed, as only ‘non-essential’ services ceased.]
30 years ago I was visiting DC on business. When lunch time arrived, the streets and restaurants near government buildings were suddenly filled with wall to wall people.
Every federal worker is salivating at the thought of a shutdown. It means vacation time for them, being paid retroactively for the time off after the deal is settled.
No it’s not. It’s codified now that they get paid back.
One of many laws/regs designed to bankrupt the country.
During the fall of 77 and 78, paychecks were delayed nearly two weeks for my soldiers and me. I survived, I was just a bachelor. However, my soldiers with families really suffered. In the end we were paid in full, but it was a challenge to get people fed.
Could be either.
It would hurt for paycheck-to-paycheck households.
Don’t they typically get backpay after shutdowns? That would sort of be like a paid vacation.
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