Key GOP senator offers proposal to pay essential and furloughed workers during shutdown

[Anonymous]

The Democrats in the senate should vote to approve the pay bill if only to force the house to reconvene. The question of Grijalva being seated is probably the most pressing need for democracy.

If Johnson continues to refuse to seat her that’s your answer about any ejections for here in out.

[Anonymous]

Oops- elections!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So pay us but not pass the rest of the budget or negotiate on health care?

Sigh. I'd take a paycheck but this is ridiculous

It is, but it takes this paycheck hostage situation off the table, and it's an incentive to get to yes on the budget because you will then actually be paying people not to work. I'm going to call my reps and support the pay all feds. Paying only excepted/essential workers opens another can of worms. I'm not excepted but have been working about 12-15 hours a week on excepted activities. Are they going to give me a partial paycheck?

[Anonymous]

Ron Johnson is a god dammed traitor to the US and a full on cult member.

Nothing he does is good nothing at all.

He loves Putin. July 4th he attends all Putin's parties. He is an election denier liar. Amazing how he and Lindsey Graham came back from those parties with Putin on July 4th loving Russia over the US. He's prob as gay as Lindsey.

He voted against opening the government his votes are public. This is BS.

Republicans own the shutdown this is 100% their fault.

[Anonymous]

Johnson’s version of the bill allowed Trump to pick and choose who to pay. Does this version do the same? Under the democrat’s version of the bill, everyone would get paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If you are going going to pay us while we aren’t working, can I just go back to work, please? This is stupid. I was fine being home for about a week. Now, I’m well over it and I would like to be working, please.

Not sure how to feel about this because I assume if they pay us they'll want us back to work anyway, but only funding salaries is going to cause some major roadblocks to much of the work, if contracting and purchasing are still shut down.

This proposal is more about how to solve the issue of employees paying their bill (mortgage, rent, grocery, credit cards, etc), it is not really about how to keep government running.

Ok, but I'm asking what actually happens next if it passes

Right now it's a proposal in the Senate. If it passes the Senate it still isn't law, because the House would first have to convene and vote on it.

If the House convenes they'll have to swear in the new rep and vote on Epstein files. So it makes sense for Senate Democrats to support this because it a) puts pressure on the House to show up to work, and b) probably goes nowhere fast, anyway, but they can look like they're willing to move the ball forward.

If it were actually enacted into law, it would pay employees. It would not send furloughed people back to work, it would not reopen functional government, it would not fund benefit programs or contracts, and it would not change the RIF situation from whatever it is today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Johnson’s version of the bill allowed Trump to pick and choose who to pay. Does this version do the same? Under the democrat’s version of the bill, everyone would get paid.

I don't think anybody's seen text yet, but Ron Johnson's remarks suggested he would support a version that paid all federal employees, but did not limit RIFs. Whether RIFs can be conducted during a shutdown is being litigated now.

[Anonymous]

Please everyone don't forget that the Republican party voted 70 times to try to repeal the ACA. They will not extend the subsidies unless the Dems force them to do it.

Stay strong and stay on message. Focus on what the majority of Americans want. They must include the ACA subsidies in any bill if they want Dem support.

This offer is a distraction and a trap and it shows that the Republicans are about to cave in.

Do you really believe that lying b--ch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With what money? They have to appropriate it. And once it’s appropriated most agencies reopen. So not sure how this is any different from any other bill to reopen.

Of course there is big difference. Federal employee salaries only accounts for approximately 4% to 5% of the total federal budget, let us say, someone works in SNAP program, but there is no SNAP funding, even if government reopens, there is no money to distribute, there is no work to do.

At my agency salaries are 85% of the budget. So if this passes, we’d all be back at work like normal. Mostly normal anyway.

[Anonymous]

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5576556-thune-paying-federal-workers-shutdown/

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday that there would be “strong” support within the Senate Republican Conference for a proposal offered to Democrats by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to pay all federal workers — both essential and furloughed — during the government shutdown.



https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5576960-federal-workers-pay-during-shutdown/
Senate Democrats may be open to supporting a Republican proposal to pay all federal workers — essential and furloughed employees alike — during the government shutdown, but they say they need more time to review the details of the legislation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5575688-ron-johnson-gop-pay-federal-workers-shutdown/

Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.), the lead Senate Republican negotiator on a bill to pay key federal workers during the shutdown, says he has offered Democrats a proposal to pay all federal workers — essential and furloughed federal employees — while federal departments and agencies are shuttered.

Johnson told The Hill that he believes Senate GOP leadership supports his offer, but he says the proposal will be discussed in more detail at the weekly Senate Republican policy luncheon Tuesday.

“Are they going to take ‘yes’ for an answer?” Johnson said of whether his Democratic colleagues would accept the latest offer.

“We’re willing to add furloughed workers,” he said, calling it a “big” concession.

“Pay them up front. They’re going to get paid anyway,” Johnson said, noting that under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, furloughed federal workers are guaranteed back pay for the time they miss on the job during a shutdown.

That bill was on the floor last week and guess who blocked it? Johnson.

NO, previous bill did not include furlough workers.

I mean, yes, previous Dem's bill (including furlough workers) was blocked too. But this bill includes furlough workers as requested by Dem, but excludes other items (such as no RIF, federal contractors, etc) requested by Dem.

Johnson blocked two dem bills to pay fed workers. The second from Sen Peters didn’t include the stuff about RIFs. Johnson is full of it.

Ok, I was not aware of that. Maybe that was before compromise, now it is ready to compromise, in order to pass something to pay people. They have to find a way to pay people.

Again, Dems put bills on the floor to do that and Johnson blocked them. He could just not block them if he actually supports it. But he doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Johnson’s version of the bill allowed Trump to pick and choose who to pay. Does this version do the same? Under the democrat’s version of the bill, everyone would get paid.

I don't think anybody's seen text yet, but Ron Johnson's remarks suggested he would support a version that paid all federal employees, but did not limit RIFs. Whether RIFs can be conducted during a shutdown is being litigated now.

That bill already exists. Sen. Peters introduced it and it's called the Military and Federal Employee Protection Act. It says nothing at all about RIFs. Sen. Johnson blocked it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With what money? They have to appropriate it. And once it’s appropriated most agencies reopen. So not sure how this is any different from any other bill to reopen.

Of course there is big difference. Federal employee salaries only accounts for approximately 4% to 5% of the total federal budget, let us say, someone works in SNAP program, but there is no SNAP funding, even if government reopens, there is no money to distribute, there is no work to do.

This. As a taxpayer I am very cool with using that 5% to keep people employed. They should not be in dire straits. At the same time we let "the people" have the day they voted for. It's not great but FAFO needs to happen to some extent. I understand that it's bad for all of us and I do understand the ripple effect, but it has to happen to some extent. That's just where we are as a country.

[Anonymous]

He is not a "key" Senator; he is a traitor, liar and garbage.

[Anonymous]

Bottom line Republicans and Republcians only are the majority in both Houses. The blame goes squarely on them. They are the majority.