US Shutdown Cut In Half After Pentagon Recalls 400,000 Workers: Half Of All Furloughs

Image Source    Wikimedia.Org
by  Ingfbruno
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Zero Hedge

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 10/05/2013

It took just four days before the Federal government caved to Congress and admitted that it can't even operate in a partial, "non-essential" shutdown. A few short hours ago Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered 400,000 furloughed Pentagon civilian employees - or about half the total defense employees - back to work. it is also roughly half of the total employees furloughed since the start of the government shutdown, which is now in its fifth day, and since both the House and the Senate are now gone until Monday afternoon, it appears the shutdown, even if now at half mast will continue for at least a week.
Why did Hagel decide he can get bypass orders and tell government workers they can cut their vacation short? The Hill explains:

After consulting with the Justice Department and Department of Defense legal counsel, Hagel noted furloughed employees could be brought back to the Pentagon, while still complying with federal guidelines governing the shutdown, according to the memo.

Civilian workers at DOD shown to play a role in the "morale, well-being [and]...readiness" of U.S. forces could be brought back, under federal rules, Hagel wrote.

Pentagon Comptroller Bob Hale is scheduled to hold a briefing on the details of the recall later today.

The decision was prised by both sides of Congress, even as the political grandstanding and talking point reiterating continued:

Lawmakers praised the Pentagon's decision to put the department's civilian workforce back on the federal pay roll. "Congress fully intended for all of our civilian defense workers to be treated the same as our active duty military members," House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) said in a statement Saturday.

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Thousands of Federal Workers File for Unemployment

Military.com 

Oct 04, 2013

Dayton Daily News

More than 2,500 furloughed federal employees in Ohio filed for unemployment compensation by mid-day Thursday, and that number is expected to rise, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Civilian workers who were sent home on unpaid furloughs due to the government shutdown Oct. 1, including 8,700 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, can file for unemployment compensation through the state, said Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
"Our advice to all Ohioans is to go ahead and file a claim," he said.
The department will review the claim to determine eligibility, he said.
"The fact that someone is furloughed does qualify them for unemployment compensation as opposed to someone who was fired for cause," Johnson said. "The situation is somewhat unique because the claimant doesn't know and we don't know how soon the furlough would end."
Claims for less than a week may not necessarily receive a benefit, he said.
The Food Bank of Dayton, meanwhile, has scheduled a mobile food pantry distribution between 10 -11 a.m. Tuesday outside Gate 1B on Springfield Street in the parking lot across the street from the gate, according to base spokesman Daryl Mayer. The distribution is open to the community.
An unemployment compensation claim pays up to a maximum of half an individual worker's pay with a cap depending on how many dependents the wage earner supports, Johnson said.
The current maximum for someone with no dependents is a $413 weekly payment; a person with one to two dependents receives $501; and three or more $557, he said.
The average weekly payment is $313, he said.


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House unanimously approves back pay for 800,000 furloughed federal workers

Image Source  :  Wikipedia.Org
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NBC News

By Carrie Dann, Political Reporter, NBC News

The House on Saturday unanimously approved legislation to provide retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers after the government shutdown ends. The vote was 407-0.
Approximately 800,000 government employees have been furloughed during the shutdown, although the Pentagon announced Saturday that it will call 300,000 of its furloughed civilian employees back to work.
Although the White House has said it "strongly supports" the legislation, it's unclear how the Senate will proceed on the measure. The upper chamber was not expected to vote on it Saturday, and the Senate will not be in session Sunday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor that it is "cruel" to promise pay in the future but not allow federal workers to go back to work while the shutdown continues.
"It's really cruel to tell workers they'll receive back pay once the government opens and then refuse to open the government," he said. "Let's open the government."
Reid said the message being sent to federal workers is: "Stay home. Watch TV. Play chess. Whatever you want to do, because we won't let you work."
Throughout the federal government, workers deemed essential and who are currently on the job will be paid for their work during the shutdown, although their paychecks could be delayed. But furloughed employees need congressional approval to receive back pay.
After past shutdowns, Congress passed similar measures, but federal employee unions had warned early in this impasse that there was no guarantee that Congress would act..
During the budget stalemate, the GOP-led House has passed a series of bills to fund some of the most popular programs impacted by the funding lapse - like national parks and care for veterans. But the Senate has declined to take up those piecemeal measures, saying that the government should instead be fully reopened.
The  back pay measure was introduced by Democrat Jim Moran of Northern Virginia, which has one of the country’s highest populations of federal workers.
"The issue is fairness," Moran said on the House floor. "It's just wrong for hundreds of thousands of federal employees not to know whether they're going to be able to make their mortgage payment, not to know whether they're going to be able to provide for their families."
In a statement, House Speaker John Boehner lauded the passage of the measure and called for a resolution to the shutdown that includes measures to modify the Obama-backed health care reform legislation.


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