Furloughs. Snow days. Sales at major department stores. These incidences are what govern how day-to-day federal business is conducted in Washington. And now it seems that even high-ranking U.S. judges are allowing “business (or no business) as usual” to continue, to the detriment of government workers.
During the course of the last 21-day government furlough, two unions representing federal employees brought suit against the Clinton administration, charging it with forcing some “excepted personnel” to work during the furlough-without pay-while other employees were locked out.
U.S. District Judge Emmett Sullivan decided to defer any decision until a third furlough, which could have begun Jan. 27, did or did not happen. At the 11th hour, Congress and President Clinton crafted and implemented a continuing resolution that keeps the nation running until March 15, when it runs out of money again.
The court calendar had been set, the courtroom had been booked, the lawyers were ready and the judge backpeddled. Instead of rendering a bench decision on the matter, Sullivan again chose to wait until after the next possible furlough to decide the case, stating, “There are no compelling reasons to decide this faster than the normal course of business because people now are working and being compensated.” He subsequently amended the timeline to hear the case Feb. 28.
This action once again proves that high-ranking mucky-mucks are not taking into account the human factor of budget cuts and congressional one-upmanship. The uncertainty of repeated furloughs have workers feeling like pawns in the current power struggle between Republicans and Democrats. Many FCC employees only received their back pay for Shutdown II last week. Others have had their unemployment paperwork filled out and ready to submit or were pursuing new jobs. What would private employees do if management announced that the company budget would be in dispute for several weeks and that some workers must show up anyway, even without pay? Pass the want ads, please.
There have been some in Congress who have gone on record saying that the government ran just fine without the furloughed employees. Some are trying to force the closing of the commission altogether. They should think about that the next time a multibillion-dollar check, the result of a successful auction, is deposited into the Treasury. Or maybe they should remember, “It’s the voters, stupid.”
