Fed Workers Fret Over Shutdown

The Washington Post reports:

Just before 7 a.m. most weekdays, Michael Kane sits at a table in the cafeteria of the Energy Department headquarters on Independence Avenue SW and tries valiantly to quell the anxiety of the people who work there.

The government could shut down in a week if Congress can’t reach a budget deal. And the Obama administration hasn’t told workers what a shutdown would look like — who will be asked to come to work and who will be told to stay home.

Rank-and-file federal workers have a thousand and one questions. Kane, Energy’s human resources chief, is fielding many of them.

Parents fret over whether the day-care center at headquarters will stay open. (Yes.) Employees who have planned business trips want to know how — and whether — they’ll get home. (It depends.) Everyone asks: If I’m told I’m not essential, will I be able to get into my office? (Definitely not.) The extra-diligent wonder whether they should race to finish assignments before next Friday.

And everywhere workers wonder whether they will be paid. (There’s no guarantee.)

On Thursday, a resolution to the impasse seemed no closer as House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and House GOP freshmen tamped down hopes that Democrats and Republicans had reached a deal. A tea party rally on Capitol Hill reinforced that message just a day after both sides resumed talks to resolve their stalemate. On again, off again — the possibility of a government shutdown has been seesawing for weeks.

“You have to keep reminding them that the worst thing they can do is start adjusting their schedule to something that might not become evident for a period of time,” Kane said.

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