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"I want to punish these people. Sorry to say that, but that's what I want to do."
—Fox Business host Stuart Varney, on federal employees seeking back pay for time furloughed
I can't imagine how many federal employees that live paycheck to paycheck who took a big hit. When I was working full-time, I usually had enough of a reserve that my bills were paid a month in advance, but it would definitely be a disruption if I were out of work for two weeks.
The worst part about this last-minute deal is that even though technically the debt ceiling was raised before the deadline, it probably will still mean a hit on the USA's credit rating. The same thing happened in 1979, in that case they resolved the shutdown with a couple of days to spare, but they still took a hit on the interest paid on the securities the government issued. Over time it amounted to over $12 billion. This time that number will start with a T.
It will also take some to get government functions spun up again. Not everyone has access to the internet, and a lot of email systems were taken offline. It's a lot of people to notify and mobilize. And a lot of people are going to have to restart child care arrangements, etc. It's not flipping a light switch off and on.
And I first heard of paying the employees for their furlough from (R) house members, not from the employees.
—Fox Business host Stuart Varney, on federal employees seeking back pay for time furloughed
I can't imagine how many federal employees that live paycheck to paycheck who took a big hit. When I was working full-time, I usually had enough of a reserve that my bills were paid a month in advance, but it would definitely be a disruption if I were out of work for two weeks.
The worst part about this last-minute deal is that even though technically the debt ceiling was raised before the deadline, it probably will still mean a hit on the USA's credit rating. The same thing happened in 1979, in that case they resolved the shutdown with a couple of days to spare, but they still took a hit on the interest paid on the securities the government issued. Over time it amounted to over $12 billion. This time that number will start with a T.
It will also take some to get government functions spun up again. Not everyone has access to the internet, and a lot of email systems were taken offline. It's a lot of people to notify and mobilize. And a lot of people are going to have to restart child care arrangements, etc. It's not flipping a light switch off and on.
And I first heard of paying the employees for their furlough from (R) house members, not from the employees.
