During a Saturday, Oct. 5 session on Capitol Hill, the House unanimously passed a bill to retroactively provide back pay for Federal workers that have been furloughed during the government shutdown.
Some 800,000 federal workers have been stuck at home without pay since October 1 when Congress failed to pass a budget for the new fiscal year. ~ CNN
So although Federal workers can expect to be paid for this partisan furlough, they won’t be seeing a paycheck until the government shutdown ends.
President Barack Obama has gone on record as blaming House Speaker John Boehner for the government shutdown. "We can vote to open the government today," Obama said today.
"We know that there are enough members in the House of Representatives - Democrats and Republicans - who are prepared to vote to reopen the government today. The only thing that is keeping that from happening is Speaker Boehner has made a decision that he is going to hold out to see if he can get additional concessions from us."
Although it’s difficult to predict when the government shutdown will end with the Democrats and Republicans so firmly entrenched in their respective positions, the fact that the House can vote unanimously on anything is an optimistic sign.
Also see:
WWII vets ignore government shutdown and let themselves into war memorial (Video)
