Roy Blunt: “That letter from Alice Rivlin, the Director of OMB, says: Here are the people who have to show up for work if the…”

“That letter from Alice Rivlin, the Director of OMB, says: Here are the people who have to show up for work if the government shuts down. The government did shut down, we all remember, in 1995, and these people did show up for work. On April 6, 2011, it appeared we might have another government shutdown, and the Obama administration put out a similar letter based on the same groups of people. These are not hard people to identify, as it turns out. On April 6, 2011, the examples they gave of essential employees who would have to work would be: FAA employees who would keep the air traffic control system open, FEMA disaster operations would continue, Social Security checks would be sent out to beneficiaries, the National Weather Service alerts and forecasts would be maintained, the U.S. Postal Service would continue to collect mail and deliver mail, the Customs and Border Protection activity would continue, and the food safety inspectors would show up. There is a list. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have this notice from the Obama administration printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record as follows: Email Guidance From OPM to Agencies (April 6, 2011) Shutdown Contingency Planning The Administration is committed to working out a compromise for funding the remainder of the fiscal year so that we can avoid a costly and disruptive shutdown that would imperil our economic recovery.…”