The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate both passed a bill late Saturday, September 30 to keep federal agencies fully funded, effectively averting a government shutdown. A provision in the bill also temporarily keeps wildland firefighter pay at its current rate.
The passed bill, H.R. 5860, makes specific mention of averting the looming mass exodus of wildland firefighters that would have resulted from the expiration of a 2021 pay increase.
“Amounts made available by section 101 for Department of the Interior — Department-Wide Programs — Wildland Fire Management and Department of Agriculture — Forest Service — Wildland Fire Management shall be available for the federal wildland firefighter base salary increase provided under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of Public Law 117–58 and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to continue to fund such base salary increase,” the bill’s text reads.
Wildland firefighters aren’t out of the woods yet. While the bill is set to be signed by President Biden before the October 1 deadline, it funds the government for only 45 days as legislators continue debating what to do with federal finances. The pay cliff’s new deadline is November 17.
With the signing of the legislation Friday evening that funds the government for three weeks, the federal land management agencies are preparing to resume normal operations.
Saturday morning the U.S. Forest Service said, “All furloughed federal employees are required to return to work on their next regularly scheduled work day.”
The National Park Service issued a statement Friday: “Following the enactment of the continuing resolution, the National Park Service is preparing to resume regular operations nationwide though the schedule for individual parks may vary depending on staff size and complexity of operations.”
If no agreement is reached for longer term funding, the government will partially shut down again on February 15th.
Firefighters conduct a firing operation to remove the fuel along Palmer Canyon Road on the Britania Mountain Fire in Wyoming. Uploaded to InciWeb September 2, 2018.
On Friday January 25 both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed a measure that would reopen the Departments of Agriculture and Interior as well as the other closed agencies, but for only a three-week period. The President signed the bill Friday evening. Hopefully before the three-week period expires, the politicians who are paid to develop a federal budget will do their jobs.
As this was written Friday night, the date the closed agencies will reopen has not been released. The U.S. Forest Service information page about the shutdown has not been revised to reflect the changes, but probably will be soon.
Even with this good news for the unpaid workers, it could be a while before they see their next paycheck. However, back pay for the shutdown period has already be authorized by a recent act of Congress.
Shutdown Story, Chapter 5
Below is the fifth in a series of articles in which we let firefighters and other land management agency employees associated with wildland fire describe in their own words how the partial shutdown of the federal government that began December 22 is affecting them. They all requested to remain anonymous.
Chapter 5, below, has been lightly edited.
This is what we heard from a Bureau of Land Management employee on January 8, 2019:
“It’s affecting me with stress about my finances since I have no clue when the shutdown will end. And I really want get back to work since I was been on Annual Leave on and off during the last two months.
“February and March tend to have a lot of meetings and training in my field which could be impacted since we are not in the office to know about them and make the travel arrangements.“For BLM in Nevada, I know hiring is affected because we can’t pull the lists of applicants or review them. We were able to get the list for one vacant position before the shutdown but now we can’t do anything with it because of the shutdown. The Region 4 Fire Hire has been postponed, which affects another job in my office.”
And on January 23, 2019 we received an update from the same person:
“I will be missing 2nd paycheck on Tuesday. I have pretty much stopped all my spending except for essential (food, medical, bills). I am trying to stay positive, but as it continues that gets harder. However, trying to help keep up the mood of my friends who are also furloughed, does help.
“I’m lucky that I have savings to get me to March but I can’t plan anything past mid-February since I have no clue what my work schedule will be. Overall, I’m just frustrated with the situation and really want to get back to work.”
Another employee, a seasonal, who had been worried about the firefighting job he applied for sent us this:
“I received some paperwork from the agency as well as my tentative selection notice. I’m supposed to be completing my background check this week but the fingerprint kit is being sent to the wrong address and I have no way of contacting anyone to get the issue resolved because of the shutdown. It’s a bit frustrating and I’m starting to be concerned about whether or not I’ll have the opportunity to complete S-131 Advanced Firefighter training this spring.”
All of the shutdown stories can all be found at the tag “shutdown stories.”
The Martin Creek Fire south of Jackson, Wyoming, September 16, 2018. InciWeb.
This is the fourth in a series of articles in which we let firefighters and other land management agency employees associated with wildland fire describe in their own words how the partial shutdown of the federal government that began December 22 is affecting them. They all requested to remain anonymous.
Chapter 4, below, has been lightly edited.
“My Fire Management Officer has contacted all of his subordinates, giving us advice on how to apply for unemployment insurance. In all my years of working, I have never had to do that. Sorta makes one feel useless and to an extent worthless. I’m ready, willing, and want to work, but because of the shutdown, I can’t.
“The worst part of this shutdown is not knowing. I guess that’s true about everything in life and our job, but THIS unknowing seems worse. We have no control over the situation. Pawns in a f’ing chess game amongst babies.
“There is no way that unemployment insurance would cover my now grownup costs with the kids, etc. The savings that we do have, is dwindling, the house and land that we were going to be getting this spring, well that dream is gone.
“Each day my wife looks at me and without having to say it anymore, I get the “how much longer” look. She wants me to find another job, with a state agency or even private. The problem with private is, they aren’t full time. Problem with a state agency — I’m starting over, new retirement new (better or worse?) health coverage.
“Tension over not bringing in money is causing us to argue a little more each day, purchases have come to a stop, but we still have to buy food, diapers, and clothes because even though we have no money coming in, our two kids still get hungry, they still have their needs as they grow.
“I don’t want to change jobs, I don’t want to move. But, how much longer can I continue to say that?”
Chapter 5 will be published January 26. All of the shutdown stories can all be found at the tag “shutdown stories.”
Terwilliger Fire in western Oregon, August 24, 2018. Inciweb photo.
During the partial government shutdown approximately half of the 10,000 wildland firefighters that work for the U.S. Forest Service are being forced to work for no pay. The other 5,000 are furloughed and not working — they are also not being paid. An unknown number are in similar situations that work for the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs — all within the Department of the Interior.
After the partial government shutdown is over, they will be paid as authorized in legislation passed last week, whether they worked during the shutdown or not. But until then, the five land management agencies in the Departments of Agriculture and Interior are limping along day to day with skeleton staffing unable to spend any funds that have not already been appropriated. It remains to be seen how the agencies will react under these conditions to a large wildland fire or other emergency that requires the quick, efficient, and possibly long-term mobilization of large numbers of firefighters to protect lives and property.
This is the third in a series of articles in which we let firefighters and other land management agency employees associated with wildland fire describe in their own words how the partial government shutdown that began December 22 is affecting them. They all requested to remain anonymous.
Chapter 3, below, is from a U.S. Forest Service employee and has been lightly edited.
“Being without a paycheck is a huge problem — we are looking at our budget and cutting back on numerous items. I made reservations and flights to be at an upcoming meeting that I can’t cancel without huge losses.
“Our contractors have done everything they can and are now being laid off. They will never get paid back. This has huge impacts to all of the work we do.
“I am getting offers for interviews and potential job offers daily.
“My staff is running out of money to cover food and gas. I am taking out payroll furlough loans to keep afloat. My bank isn’t sure if they will do anymore furlough loans after this next one. If they stop, then I have to sign up for unemployment. Department of the Interior employees were called back to sign another 30-day furlough letter. None of the US Forest Service staff that I know have been asked to do so yet. My Supervisor says they are trying to figure out how to contact all of us. Crappy planning in USFS, as compared to DOI. My supervisor mentioned they are looking at calling back more staff – unpaid work. Apparently there is pressure to put fire efforts back to work… like training and planning.
“There are now three types of furloughed employees… exempt (essential), partially exempt (partially essential) and unexempt (not essential). I have no idea, nor have seen any documentation on what partially exempt means. Either way all of us are not getting paid.
“Needless to say so many of us are demoralized, feeling worthless, and we are hostages to this crap. Trump says nothing in his speech and clearly doesn’t care how much he hurts people. His tweet was insulting. He is a bully and doing anything he can to get his way.”
Chapters 4 and 5 will be published January 25 and 26. All of the shutdown stories can all be found at the tag “shutdown stories.”
The House and Senate has passed and the President has signed legislation ensuring that furloughed federal workers or those working without pay during the partial government shutdown will receive pay.
The White House announced Wednesday that the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 “requires the compensation of government employees for wages lost, work performed, or leave used during a lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018, and entitles excepted employees to use leave during a lapse in appropriations.”
Employees, who began last week or this week receiving pay stubs showing zero dollars paid, will still not be reimbursed until the shutdown is over. This provides some light at the end of the tunnel, but until then many who live paycheck to paycheck will still have serious financial difficulties in the meantime.
Shep Canyon Fire, Black Hills of South Dakota. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Beginning this week the partial government shutdown that began December 22 gets real, affecting 800,000 employees and their families, about 40 percent of the full time federal workforce. For many of the workers, checks that would normally arrive or be electronically deposited the middle of this week or next week will be missing in action. The lack of pay will continue until the President and Congress can agree to end the shutdown.
On January 4 we conducted a brief two-hour poll on Twitter, asking federal government employees if they were in favor of the shutdown. We limited it to two hours to minimize the ability of special interest groups to mobilize and flood the poll with partisan answers. It is not a scientific representative sample by any means, and we can’t guarantee that only federal employees participated, but you may find it interesting. Of the 74 votes, 81 percent were not in favor of the partial government shutdown, while 19 percent were for it.
We also asked a few federal employees to tell us in detail how the shutdown was affecting them personally. Below is one of the responses, lightly edited for length and readability. We will post more responses from furloughed employees in the coming days.
A Bureau of Land Management firefighter in the Western United States said sometimes people that don’t know who he works for tell him it’s not a big deal federal employees are not getting paid:
“I try and explain”, he told us, “that even though people work for the federal government it does not mean that they are not like everyone else out there in the US that work paycheck to paycheck. These people have lives, bills, expenses, and medical issues that everyone else has. Is it the public’s perception that because one works for the government that they are paid well, and don’t have the same struggles as everyone else does?
“[The shutdown] is politically motivated. For the president and Congress to hold the country hostage is completely wrong and misguided. I am married, my wife does not work, except to take care of our [children]. I depend on my job to provide for the family. It’s why I went full time after being the typical hotshot employee, where it was just me. I knew then my job was part time and I always had [another job] to get me through until Spring when we would ramp back up with the shots. It’s not like that now — it’s family and long term job stability that I/we want.
“We have savings we are living on now, savings that were meant to go towards the land and house we are buying that now is on hold. Not knowing how long this will last is the hard part. The complete uncertainty of when it will happen again leaves me to question if this is the time to buy anything? I haven’t mentioned it to my wife, but I can’t have uncertainly in my life now, I have people depending on me, something I didn’t have before. Is it fair of me to continue in a job where even during the best of times, I am gone, literally for a minimum of 4 months out of the year? Add this crap shutdown, yes, I am home, but without a paycheck, it leaves very little for a family to be able to do. Sure as hell cant run down for a Disneyland vacation.
“As far as the office, no winter work is getting done, fuel reduction projects are all on hold, no hiring, not being able to start looking at who wants to come to work. [Incident Management] Team nominations are due. Who applied and when will we be able to notify those people that they were accepted onto a team? Will those people still be around, or did they move on because of the shutdown? Team meetings need to be planned. This year all Great Basin teams, type 1, 2, and 3 are meeting in Reno, will that networking happen, or when government reopens will the backlog of missed work take precedence? Training is on hold, with some of the classes completely out of the question of being made up, thereby delaying needed training for employees, and adding to the stress of this job. How much time will we have to get the refresher and pack test done before fire season is once again upon us?
“I also think the tactic that Trump used to deny the 2% pay increase [for 2019] was chickens***. One thing I hear over and over is that retention is related to the amount someone is paid. A GS 3/4 making $12 an hour won’t be coming back without something more in the paycheck. To deny that minimal 2% to the hard working federal employees is nothing but a kick in the ass.”
