Furloughed

On a normal day, I work as an attorney for the federal government. My client is the Secretary of a cabinet level department (and by extension, the American public). My job is to provide legal counsel to government officials charged with carrying out congressionally authorized duties that fall under the Secretary’s purview.

I’m not doing that today thanks to the government shutdown. As of midnight last night, I am, as my boss put it in my official notice, “non-exempt from furlough.” Which is a nice way of saying that I’m one of the non-essential federal employees who needn't bother to show up to work for now. Here’s a handy chart explaining the essential from the non-essential for those of you scoring at home. Until further notice I am off work without pay.

For those not living and breathing this stuff, here's a brief (and generalized) explanation of how the federal government can shut down and leave 800,000 of its employees in unpaid leave status. The federal government operates on annual “appropriations,” or sums of money made available by Congress to federal agencies, to be used by those agencies to accomplish functions authorized by Congress, including salaries for employees necessary to carry out those functions. When Congress fails to pass an appropriations bill before the end of the fiscal year, federal agencies don’t have money to continue operations and must cease all but "essential" operations.

That’s what just happened. The fiscal year ended Monday. Congress failed to pass an appropriations bill and so here I am at home. I’d like to go to work today, but I can’t. I’m not even allowed to show up and volunteer my services because Congress once passed a law prohibiting the government from accepting voluntary work that it otherwise would have to pay for. So until the House and the Senate can pass a funding bill that is signed by the president, the government will remain closed and I will be out of work.

I resist the urge to go on a full-blown political rant here, but for anybody who doesn't recognize that this entire fiasco is a result of a colossal GOP miscalculation and overreach and wants to press this point, I’m your huckleberry. Short version is y’all have been had by the grifter Ted Cruz and a bunch of his reality-challenged acolytes. But if you insist upon pressing, arm yourselves with more than Rush Limbaugh’s opinions because I’ve got fact, reason, and the U.S. Constitution on my side. Also I’m in a pissy mood with some free time to engage.

Anyway, forgive my crankiness. Today is my first day out of work. I’m on the bench without pay until the government is funded. If I’m lucky and there is a giant oil spill on the west coast, I likely would become an “essential” employee and my furlough lifted. But I guess I would prefer hanging out at home to catastrophic environmental disaster in the San Francisco Bay area. At least for now.

The last time the government shut down, back in 1996-97, federal employees were out of work for twenty-one days. I’m fortunate that my wife works (and not for the federal government) so we still have income during my time off. Not everyone will be so fortunate. So even if you take pleasure from the idea of a government shutdown, at least save some empathy for folks who will be suffering for nothing more than to indulge a small segment of the population. At a minimum it's good to know that I have plenty of colleagues, as well as family and friends, in the same fix as me and we can commiserate as necessary. My mother-in-law and my wife's aunt won't be helping farmers in Nebraska sort through USDA farm program questions because they are furloughed. My neighbor who is a Ph.D. scientist won't be working on cancer research for the National Cancer Institute for the same reason. One of my childhood friends won't be helping airmen transition into civilian life. But maybe this will give me a chance to have lunch with my cousin, Connie, who works for the Census Bureau in Maryland, since we both have some extra time. 

Day one is almost over. I’ll be there when my five-year-old gets off the school bus and then I’ll crack open a cold one or two while cooking a monster pot of red chili. And tomorrow I’ll get up and check the news, maybe take a long bike ride. And wait.