Federal workers will get a paycheck at some point. President Trump signed a bill Wednesday that ensures federal employees furloughed during the partial government shutdown will get back pay once it's over. Trump has long shown support for the bill, which was introduced by Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner last week and easily passed both houses of Congress. Just in, per White House, Trump signed the bill granting backpay to federal workers hit by the shutdown. The money would come after the government is reopened and payroll gets processed. pic.twitter.com/bxj5I6Agtb — Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) January 16, 2019 Federal employees working without pay throughout the shutdown were already guaranteed back pay once the government reopened. This new law grants back pay to those furloughed during the shutdown. But it doesn't guarantee a paycheck for federal contractors, something Warner pushed for in a Wednesday tweet. He also, of course, advocated for the government to reopen after its 25-day-long shutdown.<doc-sep>The governor said he and legislative leaders have reached an agreement that would allow federal workers who are working without pay to receive interest-free loans and a vote on the bill is expected Tuesday. Earlier this week, Gov. Ned Lamont said federal employees in Connecticut who are working without pay during the government shutdown are eligible for interest-free loans provided by the banks or credit unions and backed by the state. The initial loans would afford impacted employees up to one month’s net pay, capped at $5,000. In the event that the shutdown continues, participating banks and the state will work with impacted employees to provide additional funds. In addition to creating the loan program, the bill would allow municipalities to defer property tax payments from the federal employees who are impacted and prepares the state’s unemployment insurance system to offer benefits to essential workers “if the requisite changes are made to federal law.” On Friday, Lamont’s office said the Democratic and Republican leaders in each of the General Assembly’s four caucuses have reached an agreement to adopt emergency certified legislation and it is being drafted. Approximately 1,500 federal employees in Connecticut are impacted by the partial government shutdown. The state Department of Labor has already been offering some of them employment benefits, but only furloughed employees who are not allowed to work can file for unemployment, which means those working without pay were considered ineligible for benefits. The shutdown, which is the result of the ongoing fight between President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers over funds for a U.S.-Mexico border wall is now in its 28th day. This has become the longest shutdown in history and there is no resolution in sight. Before this, the longest government shutdown was during the Clinton administration. It lasted 21 days, from Dec. 16, 1995, until Jan. 5, 1996, according to NBC News.<doc-sep>Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy<doc-sep>While hundreds of thousands of federal workers will have to wait for back pay after the government shutdown ends, thousands more whose pay comes from federal contracts have little hope of recouping the pay they lose when the government isn't operating. Some contractors are turning to other means to make up for the lost income, like taking extra shifts at a second job. Julie Burr, an administrative assistant for the Department of Transportation in Kansas City, said she doesn't expect any compensation for the time she's been out of work during the shutdown and that she can't even get paid for the two weeks before it started because there's no one to process her time sheet. "I'm just trying to take one day at a time honestly," Burr said in a phone interview. "I keep turning on the news and think maybe today's the day something will happen." She said she's taken extra shifts in her side job as a seasonal employee at Barnes and Noble but it only makes up 25 percent of what her normal pay would be and she's had to ask for an extension on her rent payment, which was due on the first of the month. Burr even set up a GoFundMe page to try and help with some of the expenses and is concerned that even if she can set up a payment plan it could hurt her credit score. "I'm a single mom ... we aren't a two income family or anything. It's just me, and I'm kind of trying to make things meet and if it comes to the point of selling items in the house I'll do that," she said. During previous government shutdowns, Congress has passed resolutions approving back pay for most federal workers. But contract workers like custodians and security officers, whose hourly wages are funded by private companies, don’t get paid unless they work. According to 32BJ SEIU, that means sudden unemployment with no end in sight for the 370 Smithsonian security officers in Washington D.C. protecting the popular museums – which house everything from Judy Garland’s ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” to Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis airplane – as well as the 50 security officers who work for Smithsonian museums in New York. 32BJ SEIU is a large property service workers’ union that estimates some 2,000 of its members are facing potential paycheck disruptions as a result of the shutdown, including some 70 custodians at the Agriculture Department alone. Most of those workers aren't eligible for back pay because they are paid by private companies with government contracts instead of being government employees. It’s a particularly ironic twist for federal workers caught in the showdown between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for a border wall. The union said that almost of all of its members are African-American or Latino and many don’t support Trump’s efforts to build a border wall. “A true focus on America would mean support for the hard-working men and women who keep our government safe, clean and running every day while supporting their own families and communities across the country,” said Jaime Contreras, a 32BJ SEIU vice president, in a statement. Burr said she is not a Trump supporter and doesn't support a physical wall, but she does support border security to stop drugs and other illegal activity from entering the country. "I wish everybody would just sit down and come to a compromise," she said.<doc-sep>
The U.S. Senate voted late Thursday to grant back pay for furloughed federal workers, which is usually what happens when the government shuts down. It’s a benevolent and fair thing to do — 800,000 employees forced off the job or having to work without pay because of a political fray shouldn’t go without income through no fault of their own. It’s sad that granting back pay for lost hours is so routine for federal workers that it has become a custom. But that tradition should frost taxpayers who foot the bill for tens of millions of work hours in which no work was done. President Donald Trump reportedly has promised legislators he’d sign the measure, though it has yet to come to a vote in the House. So if it does come to pass as expected, at least federal workers victim to the shutdown won’t suffer so much financially. But the uncertainty and the financial stress is taking a toll, particularly in agencies where morale is already low. The union for the Transportation Security Agency says some of its members — who are considered essential personnel and must stay on the job through the shutdown — have or are planning to quit rather than be forced to work without pay. Ditto for the air traffic controllers. And two other unions representing a wide range of federal workers, including Customs and Border Protection officers, have filed lawsuits against the government over the practice. That shouldn’t surprise. This is the third shutdown in a year for federal workers (albeit one of them lasted only a few hours) and it’s understandable that the stress from such uncertainty and employer dysfunction would have folks looking for the exit. In an economy in which four out of five workers live paycheck to paycheck, granting back pay is the right thing to do for furloughed workers. But it’s not just federal employees who are caught in the political crossfire; in what has become another tradition, federal contractors lose business during the shutdown and don’t get paid. So not only does the country not get the work for which it will be paying furloughed employees, private-sector contractors that the government has increasingly come to rely on take the shutdown in the wallet, with some small operators saying they are being forced to lay off workers and fear for the future of their businesses. Meanwhile, most congressional Republicans — who can usually be counted on to look out for the health of American businesses — continue to stand with Trump over his demand for a wasteful and ineffective border wall that most Americans don’t want, while the government services they do want (and pay for) are circumscribed. No wonder Americans are so cynical about Washington. Scott Martelle is an opinion writer for the Los Angeles Times. He is a native of Maine.