https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-us-house-speaker-tries-muster-his-republicans-avert-government-shutdown-2023-11-13/
Mike Johnson can afford to lose no more than four Republican votes.
They always get paid. They just get a staycation. Can't go too far since the end date is not known. Shutdowns are wasteful jokes, thanks GQP.
Contractors don't get paid. Most government agencies employ as many contractors as feds, if not more.
I wish this was talked about more so people would better realize the actual impact on lives. Contracted workers just get the middle finger. No retro pay whatsoever. And if it lasts long enough, no health insurance either.....
Contractors allocate their employees salary and keep it in a pot on the side so that when a furlough happens, everyone is still paid. If that pot dries up, they pull out of overhead or other projects with more money. They never have to worry. Feds have the biggest impact being that 90% of the government relies on these appropriation funds to pay salaries. The last 10% are government functions that handle their funds the same way that contractors do, which prevents furloughing their employees.
I am a contractor for the federal government. When it shuts down, we stop work, and don't get paid. There are 3 major contract companies that do the IT work for my agency. None of them do what you claim. General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and SAIC. There are over 2,500 of us that simply do not get paid until work begins again after the shutdown. I'm not sure where you got your information. I have personally been through 3 complete shutdowns in my tenure with 5 different contact companies over 10+ years.
We only THIS YEAR implemented an option for critical services which do not require federal oversight to continue having support staff, but that's only at a half capacity and not guaranteed.
I have never heard of that being a thing. I have worked for a contractor, and have plenty of friends who are contractors and they dont stop working or miss a paycheck
They get paid AFTER the federal government reopens. Until then, they need to go without pay. Unfortunately, they can't just "shut down" their bills. They still need to pay for food, housing, medical expenses, etc. The lender on their auto loan won't accept "I can't pay because my paychecks are being held up" as an excuse for non-payment.
How long would you be able to survive if your job required you to keep working, but didn't pay you for an indeterminate period of time? I'm lucky and could probably go for about 6 months before things got really hairy, but many people aren't as well off as I am (and I'm not even that well off to be honest).
For people living paycheck to paycheck, having to do without pay for who-knows-how-long, this could be financially disastrous.
This happens frequently enough that some banks, like USAA, actually will cover for and help you when the government shuts down, https://mobile.usaa.com/inet/wc/ent-gov-shutdown-assistance-landing-mkt
So for some people it isn't quite so bad. That being said, the government shouldn't rely on that and that doesn't make it any less terrible of a decision.
You repeat this sentiment so often without learning you are nearing the definition of insanity.