Shutdown a Losing Proposition for Government Contractors
By Debbie Gregory.
While Congress has agreed to back-pay some 800,000 federal workers the salaries they missed during the government’s 35-day shutdown, hundreds of thousands of federal contractors, many of who are veterans with veteran-owned businesses, may not.
Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Tina Smith, (D-MN) wanted to attach a bill to the proposed spending package that would provide back pay for these federal contractors. The legislation, which would have been the first law of its kind to grant contractors back pay after a government shutdown, had been tied up in spending negotiations and faced Republican pushback.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) said, “I’ve been told the president won’t sign that … I guess federal contractors are different in his view than federal employees.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) reacted to Blunt’s comments with alarm. “It would be cruel and unnecessary to block back pay for federal contract workers who lost more than a month of wages and are still behind on bills due to President Trump’s shutdown,” Van Hollen said. “Many of them work low-wage jobs and live paycheck-to-paycheck.”
Sen. John Thune(R-SD) told reporters on Capitol Hill that there’s still hope that lawmakers can find a way to “make sure federal contractors are taken care of.”
There isn’t a precedent for providing back pay for federal contractors after a shutdown, unlike those that have been established for compensating furloughed federal employees. So sorting out how many contract workers were affected by the shutdown and how much it would cost to compensate them could be a logistical nightmare.
“I just don’t think it’s ever been done before and figuring out duration of contracts – I mean, it sounds like it’s the timing issues. Hopefully, they’ll get it resolved,” Thune said.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was less optimistic, and much less sympathetic. “Ms. Pelosi and Sen. Schumer should have thought about this and other collateral damage when they initially refused to negotiate on border security, something they are apparently now willing to do,” said Cornyn.
Unfortunately, many of those who served our country and then came home and started their own businesses may end up paying a very steep price.
Veteran and Military Business Owners Association, VAMBOA,
