I just got a phone call from my boss. Expectations seem to be this will go through at least next week, maybe longer (really, who knows). But (good news) there seems to be ongoing discussions about paying us. Still, my agency is in the process of contacting all the employees to check for depression and organize help for those in financial difficulties (there’s some kind of emergency programs that I really don’t know anything about).
Count me in amongst the many who are twiddling their thumbs, waiting for Congress to get their act together and pull their thumbs out of their <<bodily orifice of choice here>>. 
Thankfully the written version of the “Yup, you’re furloughed!” notice came in yesterday for me and most of my co-workers, so those who need/want to can get the gears turning on unemployment claims. I just hope for those who are on the ragged financial edge can get some income coming in before things get too bad.
My husband is considered necessary, and in fact is working overtime. The reason he’s working overtime is because some stupid shortsighted idjit decided to cut the payroll by attrition, and not hiring qualified people in areas where they are short of those people. So, when you have a lot of people who retire or quit in one field, but you don’t replace them, what happens when you need 6 or 7 people to do the job but you’ve only got 3 or 4? That’s right, you have to schedule the people you have. And they have to work overtime. And THAT means paying out more because you gotta pay overtime.
I’m seeing some of the ripple effect at work. Federal employees who have student loans are calling in to put them on hold for the duration, and it’s not clear how these postponements will affect the public service loan forgiveness program that is predicated on making a certain number of on-time payments. Loan forgiveness or no, people’s loans are getting more expensive because of interest accrual, and that’s not a good thing.
Some very good news for Federal workers. 
It’s still got to get through the Senate. But with such overwhelming bipartisan support that shouldn’t be a problem. I can’t even recall a vote without a single “No” in the House. That’s pretty rare.
I’m glad to see our politicians do the right thing and make sure our Fed workers are compensated after this is resolved.
So in order to save the country money, we’re going to pay people for NOT working?
Obviously, I would rather they work and be paid for it, and I have no patience for these shenanigans, but at the same time, I don’t see the logic. Either employ people or don’t. If you employ them and pay them, they should be working. If they are not working, you should not pay them.
I realize that it isn’t their FAULT that they aren’t working, and I am not thrilled about forcing people to endure hardship because their bosses’ paymasters are idiots. I think a better solution is to quit being childish and govern the fucking country like adults.
News flash: Republicans support the most generous unemployment benefits in the world!
CNN reports DOD workers will be back on the job next week.
I hope they reopen the parks soon. I’ve been following the local news on Hot Springs National Park. They are spending all their time harassing visitors and enforcing the shutdown. Patrolling campsites to chase people away. Imagine the effort it takes to patrol those campgrounds and chase off people that dare to visit. It’s just silly. Especially since the House just voted that the furloughed workers will get paid retroactively anyway. Let them do their jobs, reopen the Fed parks and stop harassing ordinary people.
Congress can do that in one quick vote: Let them stop breaking the law & pass the budget with all the laws THEY LOST ON intact…
If the federal government doesn’t hurry up and get its act together Alabama and Mississippi may try and reinstate slavery.
Just heard on the radio that the House has either sent, or is getting ready to send, a bill addressing both the debt limit and the shutdown to the Senate.
AP Radio News just reported that the Senate has agreed to a plan that will get the government back to work until the end of the year and raise the debt ceiling until February!
That is the most pathetic good news I’ve heard in a while. So we’ll have another manufactured crisis in December, and then one in February?
Well, the first half of January as opposed to December. Only solve for a couple months at a time, how typical.
Jesus, are things ever going back to normal, or are we going to be lurching from crisis to crisis until the Global Warmingpocalypse?
I have a feeling that this country is pretty much done for.
Oh, there will be new crises, but the debt limit will never be one of them again, and Republicans will think long and hard before the shut down the government again. The President emerged stronger, and the House lost power.
Well the best news out of this is that we now know that Boehner doesn’t have the balls to go over the cliff, so any future threats by the GOP to do so will be taken for what they’re worth - exactly nothing.
It ain’t over till it’s over.
And even when it’s over, it ain’t over.