Shutdown stories

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Daily 202: An unintended consequence? Shutdown highlights the importance and value of government."

Spoiler

THE BIG IDEA: Many conservative hard-liners inside and closely allied with the Trump administration, who have made careers out of bashing the federal bureaucracy, believed a partial shutdown would validate their view that government can function just fine without “nonessential” employees. In fact, the past 33 days have done the opposite.

It turns out that just because workers have been categorized as “nonessential” does not mean the work they do is not important. That’s why President Trump keeps calling back more and more furloughed workers to do things like process tax refunds, inspect food, approve loans and issue food stamps.

With no end in sight to the five-week-old impasse, the effects are poised to become both worse and more obvious to more people. One enduring result could be that Americans collectively come to appreciate the value government provides in their everyday lives to a greater degree. The federal court system, for instance, may need to halt major operations after Feb. 1, and the Agriculture Department does not have funding to pay food stamp benefits come March to roughly 40 million people.

Ronald Reagan said in his first inaugural address that government could not provide the solution to our problems. “Government is the problem,” he declared. This has been a dominant mentality of the Reagan epoch, which arguably we continue to live in 38 years after he gave that speech. After all, even Bill Clinton declared in 1996 — just days after the end of what until this month was the longest shutdown ever — that “the era of big government is over.” The problem of the present moment, however, is that the government is increasingly struggling to deliver services and benefits that many Americans count on, even if they take them for granted.

-- For the slay-the-beast types who hold plum posts in the Trump administration, this shutdown has turned into a teachable moment on what exactly the government does and how important it is to people’s lives. It’s so easy to score cheap political points by talking in the abstract about government “waste.” It’s hard to actually trim “fat” because, almost always, it turns out there’s either a powerful political constituency or a legitimate policy justification for virtually everything federal agencies do.

Several administration officials have acknowledged privately that they did not recognize the breadth of the shutdown’s impact, and the logistical problems it would cause, until they came back from their Christmas vacations, days after the shutdown started on the night of Dec. 21. White House aides have told my colleagues that Trump continues to be largely uninterested in the minutiae of managing government agencies and services. Political appointees have spent the past month trying to fully understand the scope of the shutdown and doing as much as they can — sometimes defying previous interpretations of the law — to mitigate the fallout for Americans.

The shutdown has also put in stark relief the degree to which red, rural states like Alaska and Alabama tend to be more dependent on federal assistance than bluer, urban and wealthier states like California and Connecticut.

-- White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is asking agency leaders to identify by the close of business tomorrow the highest-impact programs that would be jeopardized if the shutdown continues into March and April. Erica Werner, Damian Paletta, Juliet Eilperin and Mike DeBonis report: “The request is the first known ask from a top White House official for a broad accounting of the spreading impact of the shutdown. So far, top White House officials have been particularly focused on wait times at airport security but not the sprawling interruption of programs elsewhere in the government, such as those that provide food stamps or safety inspections of various kinds. …

“Mulvaney’s request for an accounting of the pending impacts of the shutdown startled some federal officials, who had been struggling to manage the fallout from the partial shuttering of a quarter of the federal government, including the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and others. Many of these officials have been trying to determine how to keep some agency functions operating at a time when a growing number of workers are refusing to show up because they aren’t getting paid. Now, in addition to dealing with the daily problems caused by the shutdown, Mulvaney is forcing them to comprehend how to run parts of their bureaucracies without money for an extended period of time. …

“The U.S. General Services Administration, an agency that manages many of the government’s leases and contracts, notified a number of departments that it probably needs new flexibility from Congress for it to make utility and lease payments in the coming days. Many federal agencies lease space in commercial buildings around the country, and if the GSA can’t make rental payments for these departments, the government could incur major fees and other costs. This could also have a big impact on the property owners, which rely on large government payments for their income.”

-- White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett was asked on CNN yesterday whether the economy’s growth rate for the first quarter of the year could fall to 0 percent if the shutdown doesn’t end soon. “Yes,” he replied. “If it extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the first quarter [growth rate] tends to be low because of residual seasonality, then you could end up with a number very close to zero in the first quarter.” Damian Paletta calls this “the most dire forecast yet from a Trump administration official on the shutdown’s economic toll.”

-- As on so many other issues, Trump and the neophytes he’s mostly surrounded himself with don’t appear to have thought through the second- and third-order consequences of their actions. On the eve of the shutdown in December, for example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development gave assurances that all affordable housing contracts expiring that month would be renewed and that landlords would be paid. “If anything, a HUD official said, the shutdown wouldn’t have a serious impact on the nation’s supply of subsidized housing for the poor until February,” Tracy Jan reports this morning. “But after the new year, HUD revealed that not only had the agency allowed 650 contracts to lapse in December — many having expired even before the shutdown began — but more cutbacks in government subsidies for low-income housing are also imminent as the government remains closed. Another 525 contracts are slated to expire by the end of next week, and 550 more will lapse in February. …

“With many landlords across the country no longer receiving government payments, HUD has instructed them to dip into their reserves to cover mortgages and other expenses — jeopardizing their budgets and the housing stability of more than 40,000 low-income households, two-thirds of whom are elderly or disabled. Uncertainty caused by the shutdown has landlords with HUD contracts postponing planned repairs to hurricane-battered roofs and other maintenance and discussing the potential of furloughing employees and delaying utility payments. … Some HUD staffers said the situation could have been better managed if political leaders had asked the right questions in time to prepare for an extended shutdown. …

“Beyond the lapsing contracts, HUD and the people who rely on it are being hit by the shutdown in numerous other ways. Public housing inspections have stalled in Los Angeles. Residents of subsidized housing in Chicago worry that faulty elevators, moldy air ducts, and broken washers and dryers won’t be fixed during the shutdown. In Maine, the Westbrook Housing Authority is delaying the release of long-awaited Section 8 vouchers, scheduled to be issued this week, until it is sure the federal government will pay. HUD is also under fire for not releasing a backlog of grants to homeless providers before the shutdown. The grants are now further delayed, even though the agency’s contingency plan characterizes the programs as critical enough to warrant bringing back furloughed staff to process the money. …

“In Largo, Fla., Jessica McBride, a single mother with a HUD housing voucher worth $775 a month, said her landlord would not allow her to renew her lease because the property no longer accepts Section 8 vouchers due to the shutdown. The landlord gave her until the end of January to move out. McBride, 33, has already begun packing, stuffing her clothes into trash bags, and is trying to save what she can from her $20,000-a-year marketing job to pay for a deposit on a new apartment. … She said if she can’t find a new apartment by the end of next week, she will have no choice but to stay put and go through the eviction process. Her landlord did not respond to a request for comment.”

“It's like the real-life Hunger Games in America,” McBride told Tracy. “It's the most vulnerable people that are being affected. The crisis isn't at the border. It's right here in America.”

-- Both chambers of Congress passed a measure last week to temporarily extend a key federal welfare program after a bipartisan group of governors warned that red and blue states alike were on the verge of exhausting their funding because of the shutdown. The $16.5 billion measure, approved unanimously by the Senate, extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program through June 30.

-- “Native American tribes in urban and rural areas are facing food shortages and a health care crisis because federal funds that stock pantries and provide medicine for diabetes and opioid addiction have been cut off,” Darryl Fears noted last week.

-- The shutdown is also drawing domestic violence shelters to the brink, imperiling life-or-death services for women, Katie Zezima reported over the weekend.

-- But, but, but: It’s not just people who rely on the safety net to survive that are suffering because of scaled-back government services. A lot of what the feds do is background noise. Like breathing, regular people don’t think about it. Until they lose oxygen.

-- The airports, where TSA agents are being forced to work without pay, have gotten a lot of attention in this regard. The associations that represent airline pilots, air traffic controllers and flight attendants issued a joint statement last night saying the shutdown has caused major safety issues: “In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented.”

-- The shutdown is also hobbling key parts of the financial system as companies ditch plans and scramble to deal with how to operate without the help of regulators, Renae Merle reports: “Already, it has slowed the market for initial public offerings. Wall Street was expecting tech giants including Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and Pinterest to conduct IPOs this year, pushing the amount raised in public markets into record territory, but that now seems unlikely. By this time last year, eight companies had already gone public, said Kathleen Smith of Renaissance Capital, a manager of IPO products. ‘There is a growing backlog of companies waiting for comments from the SEC, but no one at the SEC is there to respond,’ she said.”

-- “The shutdown is pushing some of the nation’s small, midsize and rural transit systems to an existential crisis,” Politico’s Tanya Snyder reports this morning. “The transit authority in Wilmington, N.C., an area still suffering financially from last year’s Hurricane Florence, is considering whether to shut down all bus and shuttle service at the end of February if its monthly payments from the Federal Transit Administration don’t resume. An agency serving most of Missouri started cutting service hours Tuesday. One transit nonprofit in Arizona may have to cease operating for good.”

-- Consider this trio of dispatches from the Associated Press:

1. “Government shutdown delays, disrupts environmental studies,” by John Flesher and Tammy Webber: “The rainwater collection system is broken at the environmental research station on a remote, rocky Pacific island off the California coast. So is a crane used to hoist small boats in and out of the water. A two-year supply of diesel fuel for the power generators is almost gone. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel ordinarily would help with such problems. But they haven’t been around since the … shutdown began a month ago, forcing researchers with the nonprofit Point Blue Conservation Science to rely on volunteers to haul bottled water and 5-gallon jugs of diesel to the Farallon Islands National Refuge, about 30 miles from San Francisco. … ‘We’ve found some creative solutions, but things will get more strained the longer the shutdown is continued,’ said Pete Warzybok, a marine ecologist with Point Blue. …

“Scientists with universities, nonprofit organizations and private companies say their inability to collaborate with federal partners, gain access to federal lands and laboratories, and secure federal funding is jeopardizing their work on a vast array of subjects, including invasive and endangered species and air and water quality. Researchers might miss court-ordered deadlines for reports involving endangered plants or animals. Warm-weather field studies that must be planned months in advance could be delayed or canceled. And studies that rely on strict monitoring or testing schedules could be compromised.”

2. “Rescuers who respond to distressed whales and other marine animals say the federal government shutdown is making it more difficult to do their work,” Patrick Whittle reports from Maine. “A network of rescue groups in the U.S. works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to respond to marine mammals such as whales and seals when the animals are in trouble, such as when they are stranded on land or entangled in fishing gear. But the federal shutdown … includes a shuttering of the NOAA operations the rescuers rely upon.”

3. “Just two months after a wildfire wiped out Paradise, California, officials are gearing up for this year’s fire season and fear the shutdown could make it even more difficult than one of the worst in history,” per Gillian Flaccus. “The winter months are critical for wildfire managers who use the break from the flames to prepare for the next onslaught, but much of that effort has ground to a halt on U.S. land because employees are furloughed. Firefighting training courses are being canceled from Tennessee to Oregon, piles of dead trees are untended in federal forests and controlled burns to thin dry vegetation aren’t getting done. … State and local crews who need training classes are scrambling without federal instructors. Conservation groups that work with the U.S. Forest Service to plan wildfire-prevention projects on federal lands are treading water. Annual retreats where local, state and federal firefighting agencies strategize are being called off. The fire season starts as early as March in the southeastern United States, and by April, fires pop up in the Southwest. … It’s especially important with climate change making wildfire seasons longer, deadlier and more destructive.”

-- Here’s a small taste of assorted headlines from this week that have showcased stuff the federal government does without fanfare and under the radar:

• The ABC affiliate in Pensacola, Fla.: “The local housing market is being impacted … Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Affairs (VA) loans are still good to go, but USDA rural loans are on hold until further notice.”
• Cleveland’s Fox affiliate: “Several Cleveland agencies fear prolonged shutdown will impact victims they serve.”
• Wine Spectator: “Your Rosé May Be Late this Year. The battle in Washington is inflicting headaches and possible financial pain on wineries and importers.”
• The Atlantic: “How the Government Shutdown Disrupted SpaceX's Plans. The government shutdown shows just how much budget fights in Washington could derail Elon Musk’s rocket ambitions.”

-- “The shutdown could soon block telescopes’ view of the heavens,” per Ben Guarino and Carolyn Johnson: “Mammoth telescopes and observatories that scout the sky for traces of supernova explosions and probe the universe’s 14-billion-year history are preparing to power down … A 13-story telescope perched high in the mountains of northern Chile and an antenna array in the New Mexico desert are just two observatory instruments that will be forced into standby mode if the government is still closed in mid-February. Hundreds of highly skilled workers will also be furloughed, with no guarantee of back pay, because they’re contractors … And the shutdown’s impact will almost certainly reverberate beyond their lives as research projects aimed at broadening human understanding of the cosmos are put on hold.”

-- Finally, the National Gallery of Art’s signature spring show might be the next victim. This sounds less important, but culture is critical: “The exhibition of 16th-century Italian master Tintoretto — one of the most anticipated art shows of the year — is set to open March 10, along with two complementary exhibits on Venetian prints and drawings,” Peggy McGlone reports. “Preparations for the shows are weeks behind schedule.”

-- A 53 percent majority of Americans now believe the shutdown is “very serious,” with 77 percent believing it’s at least somewhat serious, according to the latest numbers from a tracking poll by HuffPost-YouGov. Those numbers have steadily increased over the past month.

Even still, only about 1 in 4 Americans believe that they’ve been personally affected by the shutdown or expect to be affected in the future. The survey, which was in the field over the weekend, asked those respondents to explain how they’ve been affected. HuffPost’s Ariel Edwards-Levy rounded up the answers for a piece on the poll. Here are five responses that illustrate the ripple effects:

• “Everyone is affected at this point,” said an Ohio woman who answered the survey. “People not being paid means they don’t buy, which means creditors and retailers don’t have income, which means they can’t pay their employees, and so on. Schools are not receiving needed funding from the [government]. Student loan payments aren’t going to my school.”
• “My volunteer fire department’s DHS Grant to purchase new protective equipment isn’t being processed,” said a Colorado man.
• “Had to cancel a trip to a national wildlife refuge to see migrating birds. They will be gone by next month. Now we have to wait until next year,” said a California woman.
• “I work in a tax filing department of a payroll company, and certain services are unavailable from the government. It’s now much more difficult to meet the Jan 31 deadlines for filing,” said a Pennsylvania man.
• “I live on different types of assistance,” said a Connecticut woman. “This will affect me and already has started to, with SNAP. I fear that I will not have enough aid, run out of food and suffer. I could lose my home due to not being able to pay for my rent. This is SCARY. The thought of losing my medical care, as a disabled woman needing surgery soon, has caused me trauma from living in fear.”

-- Adding insult to injury: The 800,000 federal employees affected by the shutdown were warned yesterday that they must pay their dental and vision premiums beginning this week or they could lose their coverage. “The workers are not at risk of losing their health insurance benefits, which will stay in effect through the duration of the shutdown — and for as long as a year — even if they are not receiving a paycheck, with their accumulated premiums deducted from their pay once their agency reopens,” Lisa Rein and Eric Yoder report. “However, that protection does not extend to vision and dental insurance, and starting with their second missed paycheck at the end of this week, employees will be billed directly for premiums for dental and vision coverage. If the shutdown continues for another two weeks into a third missed pay period, the company that provides long-term care insurance to federal workers also will start billing them directly.”

...

 

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Many of the staff members at my senators' and representative's offices know me by name. I call and email frequently. All three of mine are pushing hard to end this ridiculous shutdown, since a large number of their constituents are impacted (I am in Northern Virginia).

Question for @GreyhoundFan.  I'm in Montgomery County and I'm wondering if you have ever just shown up at your reps local offices?  <sarcasm>I suddenly find I have more time on my hands</sarcasm> and thought I'd like to pop in to say thank you. I know they won't be there, but could it hurt to talk to a staff member?

[GreyhoundFan]

17 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Question for @GreyhoundFan.  I'm in Montgomery County and I'm wondering if you have ever just shown up at your reps local offices?  <sarcasm>I suddenly find I have more time on my hands</sarcasm> and thought I'd like to pop in to say thank you. I know they won't be there, but could it hurt to talk to a staff member?

I've never stopped by, but that's mostly because I'm usually working during their open hours. I get the impression that they wouldn't turn constituents away, but my reps have always been very open. It might not hurt to stop by, especially one of the home offices in Maryland. I did attend one of the town halls set up by Tim Kaine's office. It was well-attended and the staff who were there were very helpful.

[onekidanddone]

Either I’m on strike to show my support for Trump or I can just take out a loan either way things are GREAT. Now hold my MAGA hat and watch this. 

[onekidanddone]

22 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I've never stopped by, but that's mostly because I'm usually working during their open hours. I get the impression that they wouldn't turn constituents away, but my reps have always been very open. It might not hurt to stop by, especially one of the home offices in Maryland. I did attend one of the town halls set up by Tim Kaine's office. It was well-attended and the staff who were there were very helpful.

Raskin, Cardin and Van Hollen are mine. I've attended three town halls given by Raskin and he was wonderful though I wouldn't mind meeting Elijah Cummings as well. 

I've texting everybody I know from out of state telling them to call their reps. I feel like I'm in an echo chamber when I call knowing where they stand, but still helps I suppose in the tally of support.

[onekidanddone]

I keep going back and looking at my pay stub to see if the numbers change. 0.00.

Fuck you Trump. Fuck you Ross... 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

When votes have consequences 

 

[Audrey2]

14 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Remember, this is also the same guy who wants to Make America Great Again by screwing over our allies, making it so farmers don't have a market for their crops, taking away health insurance (fortunately, this didn't pass), claiming to give tax cuts that just so happen to benefit his buddies, having Putin for a BFF...

Just now, AmazonGrace said:

When votes have consequences 

 

I wonder what the "Pro Life/Pro Trump" crowd will make of this... Pro life also means making sure people get paid, so they can afford medical treatment, food, and shelter (among other things) in my opinion. Trumpie and Pencie, how is your shutdown considered Pro Life?

Will Trump, in all his tone deafness send Chris a MAGA hat or toss some paper towels at him?

[Ozlsn]

I watched the CNN video.  I cannot imagine having a kid with a trach and on CPAP, and facing the prospect of the electricity being turned off and/or being evicted. In winter, top season for respiratory illness. I cannot imagine how utterly terrifying that prospect would be. Where do you find emergency housing that will let you run an oxygen condenser?  For the sake of that family - and all the other ones - I really hope this ends soon. 

[Audrey2]

Yet another confirmation that the President is an idiot, completely out of touch with today's world.

Trump: Local businesses such as grocery stores will 'work along' with feds during shutdown

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-local-businesses-grocery-stores-035548241.html

Spoiler

President Donald Trump said Thursday that community businesses including grocery stores and banks will likely "work along" with federal employees impacted by the partial government shutdown.

While Trump said he was unfamiliar with the specifics of Ross' comments, he offered a possible explanation: That federal workers who have been furloughed or forced to work without pay should be able to easily get relief from businesses in their community.

Yet again, Trump proves that he has no idea what it's like to live in society. The days of the mom-and-pop corner Grocery store are gone. While there are still some convenience stores out there that are family-owned, supermarkets like Kroger, Safeway, and others will not let you leave with groceries unless you pay for them. As we all know, they will not extend credit to people. Idiot! 

[onekidanddone]

#magicmoneyfairy Shutdown day 34

Feds won’t get billed just yet for dental, vision insurance premiums

Quote

 

WASHINGTON — Federal workers are going to miss their second straight paycheck Friday because of the partial government shutdown.

But, they won’t get billed just yet for one of their benefits. Initially, the Office of Personnel Management said that after two missed paychecks, federal workers would begin to be billed directly for their dental and vision insurance premiums. That’s now changed.

“You won’t be billed until we get to three consecutive pay periods without pay,” said Nicole Ogrysko with Federal News Network.

“OPM came in and extended it by just another pay period, basically giving people more time to potentially adjust to this, or figure out exactly how they might deal with some of these bills that could be coming in,” she said.

Another benefits-related development this week involves a warning from one branch of the military.

“Coast Guard military retirees may face a situation if the shutdown continues through January where they won’t receive their monthly annuitant payments,” Ogrysko said.

“Retirees typically get … a check in the mail on the first of every month, and the Coast Guard is in a different situation than every other agency. It uses a pay-as-you-go appropriation. That means that the shutdown does impact their ability to pay this money out, and they don’t have any money left,” she said.

Ogrysko added that Federal News Network has been hearing from feds asking how to take leave during the shutdown without getting in trouble. OPM has now made it clear that there are two options.

“Take leave as you normally would if the government were not shut down, approve it through your supervisor and then, eventually, whenever the government opens, you would be paid for that time, and then you would be charged in your leave bank for the time that you took off,” Ogrysko said.

Option No. 2: “Work with your manager to take the time off and be put in default furlough status. That means that you’re technically furloughed for the day or the hours that you took off from work,” she said.

 

By "adjusting" do they mean the Magic Money Fairy is going to suddenly pay for my dental and long term care insurance? 

[fransalley]

I know there's a lot of bad news, but I just wanted to add some personal good news.  One of the staff members at my church told me that they've set up a program to help their Federal workers, and if my husband and I thought we needed help, make an appointment.  

We're OK at the moment--I think we have enough to last about another month--but I was touched that we would be thought of.

[onekidanddone]

10 minutes ago, fransalley said:

I know there's a lot of bad news, but I just wanted to add some personal good news.  One of the staff members at my church told me that they've set up a program to help their Federal workers, and if my husband and I thought we needed help, make an appointment.  

We're OK at the moment--I think we have enough to last about another month--but I was touched that we would be thought of.

I suggest you take the offer for help now before things get tighter. That is what I'm trying to do by talking to my credit union about my mortgage payments, getting a wavier on my electric bill and going to the food bank.  Trying to stave off the inevitable. 

[Drala]

Worth watching.  Wow.

Spoiler

 

 

[SilverBeach]

I think I'm in love. I would vote for Michael Bennett if I could. He was on one of the talking head shows this morning. Don Lemon played the entire clip on his program last night and gave Bennett the slow clap. Don was also without words in response to Wilbur Ross's inane and insensitive "let them eat cake" comments.

[SilverBeach]

My first shutdown-related unemployment payment was released today, only for one week, the first week is held back. Not much but I'll take it. Thirty-two years in the Federal service and it has come to this. The US Government is a deadbeat employer.

[ViolaSebastian]

Looks like the FAA has halted air traffic into LaGuardia and delayed traffic to Newark and Philadelphia because of air traffic control shortages. I hope this is the kick in the pants those millionaires need to pass a budget.

[onekidanddone]

39 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

My first unemployment payment was released today, only for one week, the first week is held back. Not much but I'll take it.

Are you a Fed? I've been thinking about applying, but I don't know how that would work.  The last time I was on unemployment I had to turn in a form each week to prove I was applying to jobs. If I did that now and was hired some place what would happen when I am called back to work?  Who is going to want to hire me knowing I would have to quit with no notice?

ETA: Amazon Music's Outlaw Country station just played Snake Farm followed by Take This Job and Shove It.

[SilverBeach]

Just now, onekidanddone said:

Are you a Fed? I've been thinking about applying, but I don't know how that would work.  The last time I was on unemployment I had to turn in a form each week to prove I was applying to jobs. If I did that now and was hired some place what would happen when I am called back to work?  Who is going to want to hire me knowing I would have to quit with no notice?

Yes, I'm a very long time Fed. We are exempt from the requirement to look for work, as this is considered a temporary layoff, which also qualifies you for unemployment. I was told that in my state a March 10 return to work date is being plugged into Fed claims. In my state, you can apply online. You need an SF 50, and documentation of a minimum of 18 months of pay. I provided my own documentation, and it was two weeks from filing my application to the first payment being made. The shutdown is common knowledge and unemployment offices are handling many Federal claims now.

[fraurosena]

 

[onekidanddone]

Well I tried to apply on line but it wouldn't let me.  I work from home (Maryland) full time, but me agency HQ is in the District.  This means I'll have to either call or show up in person.  The website has a big disclaimer about longer than normal wait times. Sigh.  This sucks 

[GreyhoundFan]

"At least 14,000 unpaid IRS workers did not show up for work as broad shutdown disruption hits tax agency, according to House aides"

Spoiler

At least 14,000 unpaid workers in the Internal Revenue Service division that includes tax processing and call centers did not show up for work this week despite orders to do so, according to two House aides, posing a challenge to the Trump administration’s ability to minimize the damage from the government shutdown.

The Trump administration ordered more than 30,000 employees back to work unpaid to prepare for tax filing season, which is set to begin next week. But of the 26,000 workers called back to the IRS division that includes the tax processing centers and call centers, about 9,000 workers could not be reached and about 5,000 more claimed a hardship exemption, IRS officials have told members of Congress, according to aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the numbers.

These numbers are as of Tuesday, according to the House aides, and the rate of employees returning to work may have changed since then. The IRS announced on Jan. 15 it would begin calling back workers as fears mounted about the IRS’s ability to process tax returns.

The shutdown appears to be affecting the IRS. In the call centers, which answer taxpayer questions over the phone, about 35 percent of calls are being answered, IRS officials told congressional staff, according to one of the aides. The initial plan for filing season was for 80 percent of calls to be answered. The average call time, of 7 to 10 minutes last filing season, has jumped to 25 to 40 minutes.

The IRS is also losing 25 IT staffers every week since the shutdown began, with many finding other jobs, one House aide said, citing the IRS officials' briefing.

An IRS spokesman declined to comment. News of the number of workers not showing up was first reported by Politico. The House Ways and Means Committee was briefed early Friday morning by IRS officials, who have also briefed the House Appropriations Committee.

IRS employees have said they cannot afford to get to work or pay for child care as they struggle to go more than 30 days without pay.

Absences among employees tasked with helping taxpayers understand the refund process are staggering.

Of the 1,700 accounts management workers who were called back to work in Kansas City and St. Louis, fewer than 600 have clocked in, said Shannon Ellis, president of the NTEU’s Chapter 66 in Kansas City.

The workers are missing shifts because they cannot afford the commute or child care, she said — and empty desks almost certainly mean delayed refunds.

“People are panicking,” she said. “It’s scary. It’s getting worse every day.”

Rosemary Bruscato, 50, who has worked at the IRS in Kansas City for 10 years, said “the majority” of her office is now out on hardship leave. She asked her boss for the exemption last week, citing the cost of gasoline.

She pays about $20 weekly to fill up her Ford Focus.

“That conversation was less than two minutes long,” she said. “There were no questions. Nothing that would make you feel uncomfortable. They just said, ‘Okay, you don’t have to report to work.’ ”

 

[SilverBeach]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

Well I tried to apply on line but it wouldn't let me.  I work from home (Maryland) full time, but me agency HQ is in the District.  This means I'll have to either call or show up in person.  The website has a big disclaimer about longer than normal wait times. Sigh.  This sucks 

You can go to the unemployment office nearest to where you live, the program is administered by the states. My agency is headquartered in DC also. Why couldn't you apply online? I went in because I had questions about the online application, and they just pulled up my online app and had me complete that. I went on a Friday morning and it wasn't bad. It's been about a fifteen minute wait when I have called, a little less if you get on the line right when they open at 8:30 in my state. It is all a huge pain in the ass, but I would rather use that money than mine to help with living expenses.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Congressional leaders, Trump reach tentative deal to temporarily reopen government without wall funds, according to Hill officials"

Spoiler

BREAKING NEWS: Congressional leaders, Trump have reached a tentative deal to temporarily reopen the government without wall funds, according to Hill officials.

With President Trump’s approval, the pact would reopen the government for three weeks while leaving the issue of $5.7 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall to further talks.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Trump was expected to announce the deal in a White House ceremony at 1:30 p.m. in the Rose Garden.

This story will be updated.

Senate leaders scrambled Friday in search of a short-term deal that would satisfy President Trump on border security and end the partial government shutdown as major delays at airports around the country produced a heightened sense of urgency.

“We’re still working on it,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in an interview outside his office when asked if an agreement might emerge Friday with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Asked if he felt optimistic that talks could lead to a Senate vote by the end of the day, McConnell repeated, “We’re still working on it.”

As the shutdown stretched into its 35th day Friday, about 800,000 government workers missed another paycheck.

The impetus to reach a solution has clearly increased among lawmakers of both parties in recent days, as the mushrooming effects of the shutdown have become more apparent.

That included reports Friday of significant delays at key airports in the northeast because of absences of unpaid air traffic controllers that could multiply across the country at other airports. Federal officials temporarily restricted flights into and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, while travelers were grounded for extended periods in other cities, including Newark and Philadelphia.

[FAA delays flights at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, citing staffing shortages amid government shutdown]

The shutdown was also creating a strain on the Internal Revenue Service. At least 14,000 unpaid workers in the IRS division that includes tax processing and call centers did not show up for work this week despite orders to do so, according to two House aides.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Friday that the airport delays in particular “ratchets up pressure tremendously” to reopen government, saying the developments could prove “very damaging to the American economy.”

Emerging from his office Friday, McConnell ignored questions from reporters about the airport issues. Speaking about the shutdown more broadly, he said there are “discussions about the way forward, and as soon as we have some news we’ll be happy to give it to you.”

McConnell was waiting to get clearer direction from the White House about what is acceptable to the president, a Democratic aide familiar with the talks said. The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

Trump is planning to deliver public remarks on the shutdown sometime Friday afternoon, according to a senior White House official, who requested anonymity to plans that have yet to be announced. Preparations were underway in the Rose Garden for a possible announcement.

Talks between McConnell and Schumer began Thursday following the chamber’s failure to pass either of two competing bills to end the impasse. The focus now is on a short-term agreement to open shuttered government departments for about three weeks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has traded pointed barbs with Trump in recent days, told reporters at the Capitol that she was not part of those deliberations.

“The discussions are on the Senate side,” Pelosi said. “We’re in touch with them. . . . We’ll see what happens today. One step at time.”

[Senators negotiate in hopes of ending shutdown as dueling plans fail]

Pelosi said House Democrats were holding off on plans to unveil a border-security proposal expected to match or exceed the $5.7 billion Trump has demanded for a southern border wall — but one that focuses on other initiatives and does not direct funding for the wall Trump is seeking.

Pelosi said, “We want to see what’s happening on the Senate side.”

She later went on Twitter, writing that the “#TrumpShutdown has already pushed hundreds of thousands of Americans to the breaking point. Now it’s pushing our airspace to the breaking point too.”

“.@realDonaldTrump, stop endangering the safety, security and well-being of our nation. Re-open government now!” Pelosi added.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) echoed those sentiments in a statement and said that “no one can ignore the far-reaching effects of Republicans’ dangerous and failed strategy of shutting down the government in order to demand taxpayer funding for an expensive, ineffective border wall.”

The Association of Flight Attendants also pointed to the airport delays in a bid to put pressure on lawmakers to reopen government.

“Do we have you attention, Congress?” Sara Nelson, the group’s president, said in a statement. “Open the government and then get back to the business of democracy to discuss whatever issue you so choose. This shutdown must end immediately. Our country’s economy is on the line.”

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) said he thinks it’s possible lawmakers could strike a deal to reopen the government Friday.

“I don’t want to get into the specifics, but I do think it’s possible,” he said. “A lot of conversations are being had, as they have been, but you know there’s no time like the present to find a solution or at least get moving.”

“There’s certainly urgency,” he added.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he was hopeful the Senate could vote on legislation either Friday or over the weekend on a short-term measure.

“We’re trying to figure out exactly what we can do that makes each side feel like there’s some good faith and then come up with a solution,” Tillis said.

Kaine said he was optimistic that senators are “on a path to a breakthrough.”

“Everybody’s got to be willing to shake hands on the short term and then work through a process where we can shake hands on the long term,” he said. “I think both leaders are now saying, you know, we gotta do this for the good of the country. You may not be able to predict what the president will do, but we have to act.”

In a television interview Friday morning, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted that Trump “isn’t hung up on the wall” but said that any border-security package would need to include wall funding.

“The president isn’t hung up on the wall,” Sanders said on CNN. “The president is committed to protecting our country, and the wall is part of that process. You can’t just fix one piece of the problem.”

Sanders continued to blame Democrats for the impasse, saying, “They are not fulling their obligations.”

“They need to sit down at the table with the president, and they need to fix real problems that America is facing,” Sanders said.

Sanders later issued a statement saying that Trump had been briefed on “the ongoing delays at some airports” and that the White House is in regular contact with transportation officials.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday after the Senate blocked his proposed border solution and a competing Democratic plan, the president said that if McConnell and Schumer could come up with a “reasonable agreement,” he would support it.

Asked if he could support a plan that didn’t include wall funding, Trump said: “I have other alternatives if I have to. . . . We have to have a wall in this situation.” Trump has suggested declaring a national emergency to circumvent Congress and use the military to build the wall, a possibility that remains on the table if the impasse continues.