Poll: Should furloughed federal government receive back pay.

BamainBoston said:

I had one woman crying on my shoulder

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That's right. Using the shut down to your advantage, eh?

BamainBoston said:

I don't understand why they were furloughed if they were just going to get paid eventually anyway.

But here's the thing, I know a lot of these folks. They got kids and bills and mortgages to pay, and a lot of them are here cause they wanted to work in public service. It's hard for me to want to punish them because Congress couldn't come to an agreement. Yeah, it equates to a bit of a paid vacation, but I can guarantee you that they'd rather be working.

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You are going to be the first president from the capstone keep it up.

seebell said:

You'd be surprised how many folks live from paycheck to paycheck with very little in reserve. Even gov't workers

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I think YOU would be surprised. I wish I could tape budget meetings for couples. I could probably give Staci 30 referrals a month.

My only problem with the want to work argument is, there a lot of folks in America that want to work. I'm sure they won't get back pay.

I voted no, even though it's incompetence from the PTBs that is causing this. As others have said, people should be more responsible and not live paycheck to paycheck. Maybe a little financial pain will wake people up ..... but I doubt it.

Tide1986 said:

I'd be okay with paying the back pay if the furloughed employees had to work overtime (not time and half) over a period of time to compensate.

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If the GOP could get workers at the evil Departments (EPA, HHS, Justice, Labor, Energy, Education for example) to be permanently furloughed without pay, I would consider becoming a Republican.

Tidewater said:

If the GOP could get workers at the evil Departments (EPA, HHS, Justice, Labor, Energy, Education for example) to be permanently furloughed without pay, I would consider becoming a Republican.

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For sure...

Tidewater said:

If the GOP could get workers at the evil Departments (EPA, HHS, Justice, Labor, Energy, Education for example) to be permanently furloughed without pay, I would consider becoming a Republican.

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Add HUD to that list and I'm GOP for life.

BamainBoston said:

Justice?

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Yeah, one of the worst abusers of federalism.
It was Justice that "discovered" (130 years after the fact) that the XIV Amendment meant that a state could not maintain a single-sex military college, even though the Virginia's single-sex military college existed at the time the XIV Amendment was declared to have been ratified. That alone warrants the death of the Department.
But there is more, unfortunately.
It is Justice that told Arizona they cannot enforce immigration law (arguing it is a Federal prerogative and the Federal government has no interest in enforcing immigration law). This position is (a) wrong on a policy level, (b) violates federalism and (c) amounts to a death knell for the republic.
It is DOJ which routinely over-rules (or seeks the judiciary's imprimatur to over-rule) the results of popular referenda in the states because the people do something that violates DOJ's twisted perverted understanding of the Constitution.
It is DOJ which fights states which enact laws to require identification in order to vote. In other words, DOJ fights for voter fraud.
It is not the Federal government which tells the states and the people which rights they retain, it is the people of the states, properly understood, that tell the general government which powers it is allowed to exercise. DOJ has absolutely no concept of this arrangement.

Off to the ash-heap of history with this evil organization. With glee.

BamainBoston said:

That DOJ makes mistakes doesn't mean we don't need a DOJ.

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Perhaps. The persistent and pervasive abuse of authority makes me prefer to tear down the entire structure and rebuild it, all the while reminding the replacement DOJ workers that (a) they are strictly bound by the provisions of the Constitution and (b) their jobs exist of indulgence of the people of the United States, not of right.

I acknowledge that the DOJ did good work in fighting crime, say, in the 1930s and advocating civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, but at some point they seem to have run out of good causes and the righteousness of past causes bred monumental arrogance. The DOJ came to believe that the people of the United States were to be allowed to retain whatever rights the DOJ decided to allow. They have too much power, too much money and way too many lawyers.

Tidewater said:

Perhaps. The persistent and pervasive abuse of authority makes me prefer to tear down the entire structure and rebuild it, all the while reminding the replacement DOJ workers that (a) they are strictly bound by the provisions of the Constitution and (b) their jobs exist of indulgence of the people of the United States, not of right.

I acknowledge that the DOJ did good work in fighting crime, say, in the 1930s and advocating civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, but at some point they seem to have run out of good causes and the righteousness of past causes bred monumental arrogance. The DOJ came to believe that the people of the United States were to be allowed to retain whatever rights the DOJ decided to allow. They have too much power, too much money and way too many lawyers.

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Exactly 100% the truth

So if government was still running without these people, maybe they need to be permanently furloughed.

Tidewater said:

Perhaps. The persistent and pervasive abuse of authority makes me prefer to tear down the entire structure and rebuild it, all the while reminding the replacement DOJ workers that (a) they are strictly bound by the provisions of the Constitution and (b) their jobs exist of indulgence of the people of the United States, not of right.

I acknowledge that the DOJ did good work in fighting crime, say, in the 1930s and advocating civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, but at some point they seem to have run out of good causes and the righteousness of past causes bred monumental arrogance. The DOJ came to believe that the people of the United States were to be allowed to retain whatever rights the DOJ decided to allow. They have too much power, too much money and way too many lawyers.

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Similar to the Dept of Energy. It was created during the Arab embargo. Do we still need it? I think not. There are hundreds of federal agencies that exist for no other reason than to suck in more taxpayer money. Harris County has the same problem with the Sports Authority. It was supposed to go away after the new stadiums were built....years later, we're still hearing about the Sports Authority taking ideas what to do with the Astrodome. Blow it up and save me money.

Displaced Bama Fan said:

So if government was still running without these people, maybe they need to be permanently furloughed.

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This. If I am not mistaken the contention on here is that government is useless. If you extrapolate that on down to the people doing the work for the government, then they are not doing anything of value. So we are effectively paying them back pay for a workday they couldn't show up to in which the majority of people on the board think they would have accomplished nothing of value anyways. It is surprising that many of these very same people who feel the government provides little value are the ones who are saying furloughed workers should get back pay.

Yes the same could be said for welfare. I say put a shovel in their hands and put them to mandatory work doing road building or other such "shovel ready" jobs.

chanson78 said:

This. If I am not mistaken the contention on here is that government is useless. If you extrapolate that on down to the people doing the work for the government, then they are not doing anything of value. So we are effectively paying them back pay for a workday they couldn't show up to in which the majority of people on the board think they would have accomplished nothing of value anyways. It is surprising that many of these very same people who feel the government provides little value are the ones who are saying furloughed workers should get back pay.

Yes the same could be said for welfare. I say put a shovel in their hands and put them to mandatory work doing road building or other such "shovel ready" jobs.

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I agree. The same way that I believe prisoners should be building and maintaining roads and other public facilities. Teach them skills, make them marketable and work their butts off so they won't want to come back to that situation.

NO! Make them draw unemployment for the time they are not working.