Tim Kaine: “I thank my colleagues for their eloquent words on behalf of the Federal contractors. If you are a Virginia Senator, and…”

“I thank my colleagues for their eloquent words on behalf of the Federal contractors. If you are a Virginia Senator, and if you are a Maryland Senator, you meet Federal contractors on any occasion all around the State. We often think of the Federal contractors as significantly located in the DC- Metro area or in Hampton Roads, but some of the smallest counties in Virginia have significant Federal contractors. So I am very happy to join my colleagues and applaud Senator Smith's efforts in this regard. All Americans were affected by the unnecessary shutdown at the end of last year--people trying to go to parks to enjoy time with their families or visiting other Federal installations that were down. We saw the lines of Federal employees waiting outside of Jose Andres's DC Central Kitchen in cold January weather. Federal employees, many in uniform, were trying to get free meals. Some of the most affected, as my colleagues have explained, were workers who were suddenly without paychecks through no fault of their own. These workers--800,000 of them--worked directly for the Federal Government. We were able to secure backpay for those workers and in a very positive way. This is something that the body did together, which I think is important. We not only got a backpay bill for Federal workers for those affected by the last shutdown, but we put in a guarantee that in any future shutdown they would get their pay.…”