About a week and a half ago, I read a story in People magazine about furloughed workers having a rough go of it:
When Kristie Scarazzo, a divorced single mom of a 4-year-old daughter landed her dream job last September as a botanist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she drained her savings for the exciting move to Ventura, California.
“I thought I was making a wise choice, working for the federal government,” she tells PEOPLE, “one that is very secure.”
Four months later, Scarazzo, 45, is “trying not to freak out” as she deals with the uncertainty of no pay since Dec. 22, one of approximately 800,000 employees affected both financially and emotionally by a partial government shutdown without end.
On Friday, President Donald Trump, whose insistence for funding for a proposed southern border wall led to the government closing, said it could last for months — “even years.”
“It’s really difficult,” says Scarazzo, echoing the concerns of several federal employees whom PEOPLE spoke to as the shutdown grinds on.
I’m not usually in the habit of reading People magazine- not that I have anything against it, my grandmother used to get it and then they would end up at my parent’s house and it was something nice to flip through and see puff pieces and pictures of pretty people- but someone tweeted the story and it caught my eye. I think what resonated to me was the fact that she was a botanist- one of those jobs that doesn’t get the attention that “sexier” things like the Coast Guard or TSA do in this shutdown, but it’s a super important thing that we all take for granted. Plus, it’s one of those jobs where you just can’t stop going to work- plants die and the things they are working on are like the other scientists who are still going to work because years worth of work is in experiments that will just die and be lost if they are not dealt with every day.
At any rate, me being me, having a soft spot for single moms, I looked her up on facebook, assumed there was only one botanist in Ventura who went by the name of Katie Scarazzo, and messaged her. She was very nice although probably taken aback that some lunatic on the internet (yours truly) had hunted her down, but said she didn’t need help atm, but thanked me and I told her if things change, to reach out. I just got a message from her about a gofundme:
As many as government employees being cut from the pay due to the federal government shut down. My husband and I have created a GoFundMe, the funds, to help Kristie Scarazzo, graduated with a Master degree of Botany, gave up her previous job to work for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as her dream job of her life. We ask everyone to give a helping hand, the donations go to her, the single mother with lovely children of 4 years old. The funds will be used to pay for her monthly condo rent, food, student loan, child care, and other expenses. The total raised funds will go toward her all the necessary monthly payments immediately. I am grateful for who I am today; I have been in downtime ago and I know how it feels. I feel everyone should extend the helping hand as it is our human nature to have sympathy toward others, like Kristie.
I am in for 50 and hope you all will help out, too.
Poptartacus
No
John Cole
@Poptartacus: you do you
MobiusKlein
PayPal has a $500 interest free cash advance program for federal employees : https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/paypal-helps
Up to $25 million total – 50,000 at the full amount. It won’t be enough to replace two paychecks, might keep food on the table.
Frankensteinbeck
This is why the media’s desire to turn this into a Both Sides isn’t working and won’t work. Trump doesn’t care a rat fart about the people he’s hurting, and every time he opens his mouth it shows.
I wish I could help these people, but I’m struggling enough thanks to my publisher issues.
WaterGirl
@MobiusKlein: That’s really good to know. I hope you’ll post that on every thread for awhile as a public service announcement.
WaterGirl
@Frankensteinbeck: My blood is still boiling from “a contract is a contract, so fuck, Nancy Pelosi” this morning.
tomtofa
Done. Seems like a drop in the ocean, but still . . .
eemom
Just when you thought Tulsi couldn’t get any worse.…
lollipopguild
I do not think trump or any other repthugs understand the anger that is building over the shutdown, I do not mean riots or violence, just an understanding of how low trump is willing to go and how our side must win.
CarolDuhart2
How Can I Help Federal Workers.
Contact Congress-I’ve felt that we probably need an effort similar to health care to help people out. Let Congress’s ears (and everything else) burn.
MobiusKlein
@WaterGirl: It’s a good deal, until you go beyond the $500 – the APR becomes ugly.
Full disclosure – I work for PayPal, but not in that specific division.
oldster
You’re a good man, JC, and you are doing good by leading the way here.
Matt McIrvin
@Frankensteinbeck: It depends, though, on people losing their intuition that only Democrats have agency (Murc’s Law) whereas Republicans are like wild beasts or a force of nature–you just have to assume they don’t know any better and wait for the adults to work around them, and if they don’t, it’s the adults’ fault.
CarolDuhart2
Unemployment Insurance During the Shutdown. Not only California, but also Colorado and Kentucky are allowing claims.
SiubhanDuinne
Is there some kind of national registry where I could just enter my ZIP Code and find families/individuals/organisations in my immediate area who could use a little help?
Mike in NC
Time to simply impeach the motherfucker. Thinks he’s a goddamn pharaoh.
Skepticat
I was surprised by one of the potential consequences I’d never considered. A friend is supposed to be married here in the Bahamas (her home) to a U.S. Coast Guardsman in early June. However, though I’m not certain why, he’s been told he may not be able to take furlough time then, whether or not the shutdown ends earlier.
SiubhanDuinne
@eemom:
Didn’t even click, and anyhow I’ve always thought that Tulsi, vile as she seems to be, probably has an unlimited capacity for “worse.”
chris
@eemom: Saw that this morning. Dave Weigel did too and said it better than I can. Thread is amusing.
Martin
NASA credit union is offering $10K, 0 interest loans to all federal employees.
(NE 14, Chiefs 0 at halftime – didn’t expect that.)
dimmsdale
Done. Thanks for posting, John.
Percysowner
I’ve been going to the Go Fund Me pages of fuloughed workers and sending a bit here and there each week I just did my weekly donation before I saw this. I’ll mark it and next time she’ll be on the list. I’m hoping that by that time something will have broken and they won’t need it any more. I’ll call Rob Portman and beg him to help end the shutdown tomorrow, for all the good it will do and I’ll give Sherrod Brown a nod for doing the right thing.
Citizen_X
Here’s a post from a furloughed volcanologist from the California Volcano Observatory about the sort of work she does, and is not able to do now. A great deal of her “non-essential” (i.e. non-emergency) work involves emergency preparedness. Seems rather important, yes?
Mai Naem mobile
@Skepticat: there was a reporter getting married early on during the shutdown who couldn’t get the civil marriage done in DC because whoever handles it in DC was closed. People plan their fucking lives around marriages. What if you planned on getting married and switching your health insurance to your new spouse and already had planned on yours to be cancelled? Speaking of health insurance what happens to the federal employees’ health insurance? If there is no paycheck how is their portion being paid? Is BC BS or whoever fed employees have just floating the fed govt a loan for the total insurance ? This is fucking insane.
dmsilev
@Citizen_X: According to noted expert Bobby Jindal (remember him?), “volcano monitoring” is a waste of time and money.
Chief Oshkosh
In for $50.
Martin
@Citizen_X: Volcanos are a myth invented by the Chinese.
Doug R
Your local food bank could always use $. Money’s better than cans of food for them and you can deduct it as a charitable donation.
Sab
@CarolDuhart2: @Percysowner:
We need to be calling our Republican senators to let them know we think they have a role to play in this and they are failing.
Rob Portman, for example, has announced that he won’t be taking his paycheck during the shutdown. Whoopee. He’s a rich man. I would much rather he took the damn pay and donated it to a local foodbank, then marched intoMcConnell’s office with like minded Republican senators .
This wringing his hands in public just isn’t cutting it for me. Damn they look spineless.
Doug R
@Martin:
You don’t live in the Pacific Ring of FIRE, do you?
Gvg
How many government shutdowns have there been? It’s been sort of building in me a rage, I don’t ever think I have approved of a government shutdow.
Martin
@Doug R: Trump will build a beautiful fence to protect us from the lava. It’s all good.
Adam L Silverman
@lollipopguild:
You should. You should be prepared for it. The longer the shutdown last, as it begins to effect the parts of the government that are actually open, it will eventually drive violence. That may be just tragic: familial relation murder-suicide where someone facing losing their house and their car and their marriage and/or their kids just acts out of despair. Or it may be both tragic and political when someone decides to go after the President or the Vice President or a visible and known member of the administration or one or more members of Congress. And that’s just among the Federal employees forced to work with no pay and the furloughed Federal workers and contractors. When the lack of food stamps combined with the HUD leasing arrangements begin to bite ordinary Americans or people can’t get their tax refunds or someone can’t get flood insurance and thereby can’t finalize a mortgage or there’s a large scale food borne outbreak from lack of FDA inspections that Federal public health can’t respond to or the ebola outbreak in the DRC gets to a major city and then goes international and the CDC and NIH can’t respond, you’ll see violence coming from a different direction. And some of it will be tragic and some will be political. And all of it was avoidable.
Steeplejack
@eemom:
The both-sider-ism is coming from inside the house!
Karen
Trump cares so much about the federal workers because he’s getting off on all this. Now he has hostages.
Karen
@Adam L Silverman:
Feature not a bug.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in NC: The pharaohs had better taste.
Adam L Silverman
@Skepticat: The law is that if you’re an essential employee you are forbidden from taking sick days or leave or emergency leave (bereavement other crisis) while the government is shutdown. You must report to work no matter the circumstances.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: But then the volcanos get lonely.
Adam L Silverman
@Karen: Of course.
B.B.A.
@Adam L Silverman: what if, say, an FBI agent gets the flu? Do they have to report to work and potentially spread it to the entire office?
…honestly I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, but…
TS (the original)
@Karen: He truly does get his highs from the misery of others. No other world leader has advertised this so loudly and so often.
Adam L Silverman
Just a general caution: it is illegal, under the regs for Federal employees, to accept any gifts outside of those from family (and I’m guessing friends or I’m in a lot of trouble from a number of birthdays…) that are above $10. While it will be up to a combination of the ethics folks at OPM and each specific department, agency, office, and/or bureau that is now shutdown whether to and how to apply these ethics rules for people that set up fundraisers or accepted charitable gifts or donations of money, essential items, and/or services, it is important to recognize that you may be helping them today and setting them up for harsh punishment from the political appointees in this administration if/when the shutdown ends. Federal contractors who are furloughed have similar regulations and requirements they are supposed to follow.
Sab
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for mentionning this.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I clicked for both of us. Be glad you didn’t. I hadn’t paid much attention to her before now, I just thought that it wasn’t worth it. If only I had known how correct I was……..
plato
Coming into the 3rd year inaugural anniversary of the spiteful thug’s illegitimate admin, all that open corruption, utter incompetence, breaking of all norms etc. seemed so far away until they started hitting closer to home now.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: This is all kind of all fucked up. All of it.
chris
This is great. AOC drops in on a charity Twitch stream for trans kids.
poleaxedbyboatwork
@Adam L Silverman:
Expect (hope) this cautionary proviso is similar to Lindsey “SchizophrenicRagePuppet” Graham’s formulation:
Sen. Graham: “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
The law is sposed to be blind. Must it also be deaf, dumb and stupid?
Adam L Silverman
@B.B.A.: Under the current rules: yes.
Ruckus
@Citizen_X:
The shithead’s golf course in PV is far from a volcano and so no, he doesn’t care about emergency preparedness. He’ll never require that emergency prep in his lifetime so no, he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about his own supporters getting screwed, and you can tell this by the fact that his policies screw them, using the very type of rational that they used to vote for him. If any of them actually ever realized that drumpf thinks about his supporters the same way his supporters think about people who aren’t whiter than driven snow, they’d run from him in a flash.
Felanius Kootea
@Adam L Silverman: How will the shutdown affect the parts of the government that are currently open?
Do you think the threat of a recession caused by the shutdown will make Trump change his mind? I know he doesn’t care about affected workers but he’s been bragging about the economy, so tipping the US into a recession might get him to back down. I’m sure at least one of his advisers has brought up that possibility.
Adam L Silverman
@Sab: May be $20. I haven’t looked this stuff up in a while as I really didn’t have any reason to. The few gifts I ever received tended to be from my students at USAWC who were officers from foreign military. They all, but especially those from Africa, the Middle East, Eastern and SE Europe, and all parts of Asia, brought gifts for their front line supervisors/academic advisors and for their faculty sponsors. I simply catalogued what they were for my front line supervisors and kept them as refusing them would have been considered an insult.
Ruckus
@Sab:
It’s not just a look.
It’s also not spinelessness, this load of crap we are going through is republican politician’s wildest wet dream.
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: I belive it’s $20 now.
lamh36
How soon before Chump invites those Catholic school MAGA kids to the WH or commits on twitter? Has Faux News commented yet? Cause yu know Chump parrots Faux News on everything
https://media.giphy.com/media/BCXMSiVZeo8xy/giphy.gif
Breezeblock
Done. Son.
joel hanes
@Adam L Silverman:
And all of it was avoidable.
All of is gratuitous.
The fucking Republicans cannot be content with the things they can achieve by legitimate means, and feel entitled to cheat and break things and take hostages. And sneer.
Fuckem.
lamh36
YUP!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: The rules were not written with the current reality in mind.
Adam L Silverman
@poleaxedbyboatwork: I honestly have no idea how the rules will be applied in regard to this. In fact people like Walter Schaub don’t either.
lamh36
On the one hand…UGH…on the other hand…GOOD.
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: A lot of contracts, especially for DOD and the Services and the Intel Community are awarded under rules that privilege small businesses. Usually some combination of veteran owned, minority owned, individual with a disability owned, Native American owned, and/or Native Alaskan owned small business. In fact these awards are made specifically under a set aside program. The awards can’t be finalized because they have to be certified by the Small Business Administration, which is closed due to the shutdown. Since these awards can’t be finalized, because there’s no one at the SNA to do the routine paperwork (so to speak), the specific contractors can’t start work, the companies can’t bill for the work, and the work isn’t getting/can’t be done. This will have a significant effect on parts of the government that are open and rely on contractors, which is pretty much all of the government that is open. That’s just one example. Another is anything that requires an Interagency response that includes parts of the government in shutdown that are part of that response. Working groups will be cancelled. Reports won’t be finalized. Etc, etc, etc.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: What did they do last year.
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: No, the threat of a recession won’t change his mind. What the President knows about economics was wrong 150 years ago, let alone today. What his principal economic advisors know about economics has always been wrong. Haslett, Kudlow, and Navarro are like TweedleDumb, TweedleDumber, and TweedleDumbest.
lamh36
@schrodingers_cat: proclamation I think (I kno they issued a proclamation this year too), but other than that, I’m not sure
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Well the VP did invoke MLK’s I Have a Dream speech in his remarks on the Sunday shows regarding the need to build the wall.
Karen
@Ruckus: Because he’s “hurting the wrong people.”
Pogonip
Last total eclipse of the moon tonight for a couple of years. Totality will occur at 2342 EST.
Another Scott
@Mai Naem mobile: OPM Furlough Guidance (4 page .pdf):
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Sab
@Ruckus: Ohio Republicans have a long tradition of talking all sane and reasonable, and then doing horrible things. Portman just voted to lift sanctions on Oleg Deripaska, the Russian metals oligarch. Kasich talks all reasonably, but lowered taxes for the wealthy slashed school spending, etc,etc. Voinovich atalked all reasonableness, but presided over letting the big banks destroy his own Cleveland neighborhood with predatory lending.
I know they are utterly corrupt. It doesn’t come across to Ohio voters. So maybe presenting Portman as weak and ineffectual will have more resonance. God knows nobody can point to anything he has done for us. He projects as “nice”. Maybe we can change that to “weak”. This shutdown is doing serious damage in this state. He is supposed to be a high ranking Senator. Why can’t he seem to have a positive impact?
thylacine
@Adam L Silverman: It’s a little more complicated than that. You need to look at the definitions of “prohibited outside source” and “given because of the employee’s official position.” See 5 CFR 2635.203(d) and (e). It’s not clear to me that the gift in this case is “because of the employee’s official position.” Instead, I’d say that’s it’s because of the lack of a paycheck. But you’re right about being cautious: the employee should try to contact an agency ethics official.
bmoak
I’ve seen MAGA-types on Twitter threads crowing about how all the furloughed employees running GoFundMe pages are going to be thrown in jail. Even taking meals from, say, Jose Andres, or any of the other restaurants giving free food to furloughed employees, is very likely to be a violation of government ethics rules.
Frankly, this sucks. The Trump Administration and the Republican Party have made no bones about wanting to reduce the size of government. Between government workers and contractors leaving to find other jobs because of a the shutdown and the Trump administration, egged on by the right, looking to fire as many workers as they can for ethics violations, they may well get their wish.
lollipopguild
@Adam L Silverman: One school of thought is that trump and his advisors Want a recession so they can blame the DEMS for it while demanding more tax cuts. Create so much chaos that you can use it to destroy Social Security and Medicare and any parts of the Federal Gov. that you do not like.
joel hanes
@eemom:
Tulsi
Her opponent in the next Dem primary will announce tomorrow
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/426187-hawaii-state-senator-to-announce-bid-for-gabbards-house-seat-in-2020-report
I’m looking forward to donating to his campaign.
thylacine
@Adam L Silverman: It’s a little more complicated than that. You need to look at the definitions of “prohibited outside source” and “given because of the employee’s official position.” See 5 CFR 2635.203. It would be best to get an opinion from an agency ethics official — if one is available.
Felanius Kootea
@Adam L Silverman: Damn! I wish the news media would explain all these additional effects in a way that most people (even Trumpers) can understand, like you just did. If enough regular people understand exactly what the effects of the shutdown are, the pressure on McConnell will be tremendous.
poleaxedbyboatwork
@Citizen_X:
This shit makes me so fucking angry. Remember Bobby “See-We-Gotta-Dusky-One-Too” Jindhal from Louisiana?
Jindhal wanted to highlight wasteful government spending some years back, and so he steppt on his own dick by whinging about volcano monitoring. Which is purty much asbrainyasif Jindhal was bitching about the wasteful spending on storm tracking inna hurricane flyway. Apart from the obvious effects of earthquakes creating tsunamis, volcanism can do so also.
Forged in stupid, burnt by the flames.
Fun fact you may or may not know: Any idea of the highest known wave height ever recorded? 100 feet maybe?
Try 1,700 feet-plus. Measured at the denuded treeline atop a mountain at Lituya Bay. (Think World Trade Center tall.) Rock and ice calved into one end of T-shaped bay, water displaced, races up mountainside.
Three salmon trollers were anchored in the bay, morning of. Two made it, one did not. Gotta buddy with whom I have coffee most morns whose old man was aboard one of the three vessels. (The doughty Badger, h/t to Ms. Cracker of the flatlands.)
Ohio Mom
@Percysowner: Good luck with the Rob Portman calls. I did that several times last week and very few of my calls got picked up by a swarmy intern. Mostly it was the answering machine.
Either no one wants to work for him or they are one lazy bunch. Either way, does not reflect well on him.
Mandalay
Not as bad as Gabbard, but Mark Warner managed to create the wrong headlines (Warner: The president’s immigration proposal is ‘starting point’ and Senate Dem: Trump immigration proposal a ‘starting point’).
Of course that wasn’t all he said to the camera, but the media pounced. Screw the media, but also screw Mark Warner for giving them ammunition. He’s only 64 but he seems like 137 when he speaks – confused, disjointed and rambling.
Adam L Silverman
@thylacine: The issue, of course, is the ethics officials are all furloughed.
CarolDuhart2
While you have to be careful, as a former fed, as long as it’s not a person doing business with you r agency, you should be fine. What happens if you are in non-work status is one thing-you are not doing business with the agency and are in no position to influence agency outcomes. And establishing the value of a free sandwich is hard to do. Those who are still working and not being paid may have to be more careful about what they accept and that there is no seeming quid-pro-quo (and there really isn’t).
Adam L Silverman
@Felanius Kootea: I did a post about the contracting issue the other night. It is near and dear to my heart because I just lost another full time equivalent assignment because of it.
Kayla Rudbek
@Adam L Silverman: it’s $20. And now I realize why fibre space (Alexandria VA yarn store) has been offering the furloughed knitter class kits at $15…
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
A few days I asked about the situation of foreign nationals employed at the US Embassy in their country and other US Government facilities abroad. Maybe you didn’t see the question, so here it is again. Are these foreign nationals also furloughed, or deemed essential and required to continue working for no pay? I suspect the latter situation could put the US in violation of employment laws around the world.
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: I do not know.
thylacine
@Adam L Silverman: No, they aren’t.
poleaxedbyboatwork
Trump is consistent: as a so-called “bidnessman” and as a so-called preznit, Trump never has favored paying honest folks for the work they do.
Trump never, ever, fucking ever fails to live down to, if not exceed, the very depths of one’s expectations.
Adam L Silverman
@thylacine: You’re an extinct marsupial, why should I believe you?//
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: We could assume that the employee and her boss and coworkers are the most familiar with how the regulations apply to their situation. They’re usually informed of these rules already and in communication with others. If donations are a mistake they can be returned via gofundme, which seems better than the risk of discouraging donors by mistake.
Another Scott
@CarolDuhart2: Thanks for the clarification.
Donated.
Hang in there, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
thylacine
@Adam L Silverman: Because ethics officials need to be on call in case furloughed employees seek outside employment during the shutdown.
Adam L Silverman
@thylacine: I was teasing you based on your nym, hence the sarc tags: //.
J R in WV
@Pogonip:
No eclipse here, clouded up pretty good after sunset or so.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Not cloudy here, moon is clearly visible and no eclipse either.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, but then Trump can get his jollies by tossing out the Posse Comitatus Act and sending the Army after them…
the Army that isn’t getting a regular paych… whoops.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: The Moon is just entering the umbra now. Keep looking, part of the edge of the disc is already visibly dark.
Steve in the ATL
@Adam L Silverman: partial occlusion up here in Atlanta!
ETA: though no signs of wolves or blood
Matt McIrvin
@bmoak: This is how they purge the civil service. Make everyone choose between quitting, starvation or breaking the law. When the government starts up again, they can hire Trump loyalists to replace everyone, or just leave the offices unfilled like they really want.
CarolDuhart2
BTW, if in doubt as a Fed, go speak to your agency union for clarification. While I’m pretty sure about my agency from what I remember, there may be instances where more professional advice may be needed. I worked for the IRS as a seasonal for years, so I became familiar with some of these issues. Basically, don’t take a job where your agency can make decisions, or things from people who are in a position to do or have issues pending to be decided by your agency. Also, check out that old ethics manual that was given to you (and find the latest version of same). In any event, there will be litigation as there is really no precedent where both agency and employee are out of work-especially this long.
And rules vary depending upon your GS. Certain positions are considered politically sensitive (you know who you are) and there may be even more restrictions.
Redshift
@lollipopguild:
I could definitely see the Trump crew being stupid enough to think that would work. Then we’ll get stories leaked from Trump insiders about how upset he is that everyone isn’t blanking the Dems, even though Fox is repeating his assertion that it’s all their fault.
CarolDuhart2
@Adam L Silverman: You can take off for sickness or bereavement. It’s just that you won’t get paid for the day. Now vacations are another matter-that’s not considered necessary. You can’t use your accumulated leave to pay for those days, and work takes precedence over that..
thylacine
@Adam L Silverman: Clearly I’m not aware of all internet traditions!
Adam L Silverman
@Matt McIrvin: @Steve in the ATL: I just came in, it’s at about 85% here. I’ll go back out in about ten minutes for full.
Adam L Silverman
@CarolDuhart2: As those regs don’t apply to me anymore as I’m no longer a GS, I’m relying on what was being reported, so thanks for the clarification.
Skepticat
@Adam L Silverman: I understand that. However, apparently they’ve been told he won’t be able to take time (two weeks) for a period after the shutdown. Odd that.
planetjanet
@thylacine: All of our ethics officers have been furloughed. Ha.