Steve Womack: “Federal employees should not be harmed by Congress's inability to do its work and fund the government. And while I…”

“Federal employees should not be harmed by Congress's inability to do its work and fund the government. And while I supported S. 24 for this reason, I have serious concerns about the legislation's funding structure. Though federal employees are generally paid through discretionary accounts, as written and passed, the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 does not require salaries for furloughed and excepted staff to be funded with annual appropriations during a shutdown. This opens the door for the creation of new entitlement spending. I do not believe this was the legislation's intent, and in the future, I will work with my colleagues to provide for these salaries through their appropriate discretionary accounts. I have consistently expressed concerns about the growth of autopilot mandatory spending and its impact on our nation's debts and deficits. Rather than perpetuating this problem, we should resolve ourselves to fixing the budget and appropriations process to ensure that Congress fulfills its duty and government shutdowns and pay for federal employees are taken off the table.”