Pentagon staff will return to work
Loophole exempts civilian employees in the defense department from shutdown
WASHINGTON— U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel made a surprise announcement Saturday that he would reinstate almost all of the 350,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department who had been sent home when the government shut down last week.
Hagel said “most DoD civilians” would be exempted from the imposed furloughs and would return to work next week because Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers had interpreted a stopgap budget measure signed into law last week by President Barack Obama — which guaranteed pay for service members — to also apply to a larger number of civilian workers.
That action came as the House of Representatives, in a rare Saturday session, voted unanimously to guarantee that all federal workers will receive back pay once the government shutdown ends.
The move offers a promise of relief, if not an actual rescue, to more than a million government employees either furloughed or working without pay.
When the government shut down Tuesday, about 350,000 members of the Defence Department’s civilian workforce of approximately 800,000 were ordered to stay home. (Military personnel are automatically exempted from the shutdown.)
In a letter to the department released Saturday, Hagel said government lawyers had advised that under the Pay Our Military Act, the Defence Department could “eliminate furloughs for employees whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members.”
The act was passed by Congress and signed by the president just before the shutdown began to make sure the military was paid even if the rest of the government was shuttered.
The language from the measure is now being interpreted as requiring the work of far more Pentagon civilian employees, most of whom support the military effort at installations outside Washington.
“I expect us to be able to significantly reduce — but not eliminate — civilian furloughs under this process,” Hagel said.
He warned that “many important activities remain curtailed while the shutdown goes on,” and he cited disruptions across the armed services.
Late Saturday, the Defence Department comptroller, Robert Hale, said Hagel’s order would recall Pentagon employees who work in health care, family programs, commissaries and training or maintenance.
Additionally, the order will recall to work those civilian Pentagon employees whose jobs, if interrupted, would cause future problems for the military. Those categories include contracting, logistics, supply and financial management.
While the numbers have not been finalized, officials estimated that only 10 per cent of the furloughed employees would not be recalled, including civilian employees who work in auditing, some in legislative and public affairs, and Pentagon employees who service other government agencies. A senior department official said Hagel, as he travelled across Asia last week, had been working to reduce the number of employees furloughed and made the final decision when he returned home Friday after learning of the Justice Department’s legal advice. When the House met Saturday, it voted 407-0 to approve the measure supported by Obama to guarantee back pay for furloughed government employees. The vote followed a morning debate in which lawmakers from both parties extolled government doctors and nurses saving lives, emergency relief workers braving disasters to rescue citizens, and NASA scientists exploring space. In 2011, many of those same lawmakers, swept to power on a Tea Party wave, pressed for legislation imposing a hard freeze on government salaries and held hearings on a federal workforce they said was overpaid and bloated. The House also voted, 400-1, on a resolution saying military chaplains should be able to conduct religious services, despite the shutdown. Republicans accused the Obama administration of stifling religious freedom. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services, said Republicans had concocted an issue that did not exist. The lone “no” vote belonged to Democratic Rep. Bill Enyart. The bill continues a House Republican strategy of passing a series of smaller spending measures on popular topics in an effort to pressure Democrats to reopen at least portions of the government.