{"id":42876,"date":"2018-01-19T01:43:30","date_gmt":"2018-01-19T01:43:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/01\/19\/fed-workforce-heres-how-congress-might-protect-your-pay-during-a-shutdown\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:32:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:32:59","slug":"fed-workforce-heres-how-congress-might-protect-your-pay-during-a-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2018\/01\/19\/fed-workforce-heres-how-congress-might-protect-your-pay-during-a-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Fed workforce: Here’s how Congress might protect your pay during a shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 If there\u2019s a U.S. government shutdown, dozens of lawmakers want to make sure federal employees receive retroactive pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic Rep. Don Beyer and Republican Rep. Rob Wittman, both from Virginia, have introduced the Federal Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, meant to blunt the impact of a federal government shutdown on federal workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin, whose state is home to more than 130,000 federal government employees, has offered a similar bill in the upper chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With lawmakers seemingly deadlocked on a stopgap continuing resolution<\/a> to fund the federal government, Beyer and Wittman were gathering support on the House floor Thursday afternoon. Together, the two represent nearly 120,000 federal employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think everybody understands that this is an issue Congress has to deal with, government employees shouldn\u2019t be held hostage to this,\u201d Wittman said. \u201cWe do this every time there is even the potential for a government shutdown, to make sure we protect our federal employees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t