[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H162-H163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DEDICATED FEDERAL WORKERS BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Barcia] is recognized for 3 minutes.
  Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, the people who are being treated most 
unfairly in this ridiculous shutdown of Federal agencies are the 
dedicated workers who are showing up for work day after day without any 
idea of when they are getting paid.
  And to make matters even worse, some of these workers stand to lose 
well-earned benefits because of the shutdown.
  I know that people who work for the Justice Department, including 
members of the U.S. Marshall's office and the FBI, are at risk of 
losing earned vacation time. Like other Federal employees, they face a 
use-it-or-lose-it situation when their accumulated leave exceeds 240 
hours per year.
  Under current procedures, these employees will lose their excess 
hours if they are not used by the end of the current pay period. But 
these people have 

[[Page H163]]
been deemed essential as a result of the shutdown of the Justice 
Department and have been prohibited from using their accumulate leave 
time.
  While it is true that there are procedures in place for these 
dedicated Federal servants to apply for extra time to use this excess 
leave because of extraordinary circumstances, why should these 
individuals be compelled to make extra effort to keep the benefits they 
have earned and are being prohibited from using?
  I firmly believe that in any future legislation to restore benefits 
to Federal employees affected by the shutdown, that an automatic 
extension for the use of this excess leave time should be included. We 
should not make these Justice Department workers or any similarly 
affected Federal employees fight to keep what they have earned, and 
what the budget impasse prevents them from using.

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