[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 203 (Monday, December 18, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18823-S18824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A SHUTDOWN'S OTHER COSTS

 Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, as we are all well aware, the 
country is experiencing the second partial shutdown of the Federal 
Government this year. Last November, 800,000 very dedicated men and 
women were prohibited from coming to work, were called nonessential and 
had to endure 6 long days full of stress and uncertainty. Now, with 
Christmas just a week away, I regret we find ourselves in the same 
situation.
  While the current shutdown affects fewer Federal employees, some 
280,000, their concerns and fears are no less real than they were 4 
weeks ago. It is outrageous that Federal employees, many of whom are 
Marylanders, continue to be the unwilling victims of the ongoing budget 
battle between the congressional leadership and the administration. How 
are people who live from paycheck to paycheck going to meet their 
mortgage payments or tuition payments for their kids who are in school?
  Yesterday, Mr. President, the Washington Post published an editorial 
which, in my view, clearly articulates the harmful effects of a 
shutdown on our work force. We have a national interest in having a 
first-rate Federal service. You do not want a second-rate Federal 
service. But, if you continue in effect to assault people, keep them in 
this state of agitation and anxiety and fear and apprehension, you are 
well on your way to bringing about a second-rate service. People have 
other opportunities. Good people have other opportunities and will 
leave to take them. Good people will not come in because they do not 
want to live in this environment and for that we will all suffer.
  At some point I hope people will reach the conclusion that Federal 
employees have a reasonable role and place in the workings of our 
system and they ought to be treated with a measure of dignity. It is 
important that we consider seriously the implications of a shutdown, 
not only on the daily operations of the Federal Government, but on the 
long-term performance and perception of civil servants and the public 
service they provide. I ask that the text of the article be printed in 
the Record.
  The article follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Dec. 17, 1995]

                        A Shutdown's Other Costs

       There is more to the stalemate of the government than the 
     failure of the President and the GOP to agree on a seven-year 
     balanced-budget plan. The furloughing of federal employees 
     exacts a terrible cost from a valuable work force. Nothing 
     can be more demoralizing to the men and women who look out 
     for the nation's veterans, hunt cures to deadly diseases, 
     keep our air and water clean, send out the Social Security 
     checks and otherwise serve the nation in ways most of us 
     don't think about, than to be told that despite their 
     fidelity and contribution, they are really ``nonessential.'' 
     That insult, being added to all the other guff federal 
     workers catch in the halls of Congress, on talk shows and 
     from television comics, comes as an undeserved kick in the 
     teeth from their own government.
       Federal employees have every right to feel as if they are 
     the real pawns in this sorry mess. One day they are proud and 
     productive 

[[Page S18824]]
     members of the federal government, protecting the health and safety of 
     the nation; the next day they are handed a slip of paper and 
     sent home with no idea when they will be paid. That is no way 
     to motivate a work force, let alone demonstrate respect for 
     it.
       The daily payroll cost for the furlough of employees is no 
     small matter--even if employees are paid retroactively for 
     their days out of work. But there are consequences of the 
     cavalier treatment of the federal work force that will be 
     felt long after the government is back in business.
       A government that is in gridlock--worse yet, shuttered--
     does little to bolster a political system already losing the 
     public's confidence. It downright debilitates its own work 
     force. As a furloughed federal economist said during the last 
     interruption, ``Can you imagine a Fortune 500 company 
     operating like this? If they had a dispute between their 
     board of directors and their president, and they sent 
     everybody home?'' And in addition to the effect on morale, 
     can such interruption be supposed to be a help to the work 
     they do?
       In an open letter to federal employees, President Clinton 
     and Vice President Gore signaled their recognition of the 
     shabby treatment afforded the federal work force: ``you 
     remain good people caught in what Churchill called the `worst 
     system of government devised by the wit of man, except for 
     all the others,' '' they wrote. Good people--and they are--
     should not be made to pay for the failures of their leaders. 
     Getting federal employees out of the middle and back on the 
     job is the way to respect them.

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