Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) has previously said that he doubts federal employees will get paid if the government shuts down and they are furloughed. “There will be no reimbursement,” he said on a conference call with reporters this week. He also stated that “There is little likelihood that there would be reimbursement of employees, at least those who were not considered ‘essential’ and not on the job.”
While Moran still appears to believe this to be the case, he is actively working to change the situation. He has introduced a bill known as the “Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act” which would guarantee retroactive pay for federal employees if the government shuts down. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).
When asked if Moran thinks his bill can get passed through Congress, he said “it’s swimming against the current. I suspect if we had that vote today, I’d probably lose. I don’t know that the committee will even take it up, but I’m going to do everything I can [to advance the bill].”
Moran also offered words of caution to federal employees in the event that his bill doesn’t pass. “If I were a federal employee in the executive branch, I would prepare for the worst and hope for the best. At this point in time, they [federal employees] need to start conserving their financial resources.”
