Shutdown our conversation we had earlier on washington journal. Eric katz is a Senior Correspondent and joins us now on the impact on the ongoing shut down. This is a partial shutdown so explain why. There is no funding for government. Have carved out certain exceptions for employees that can continue to work. There is a memo from the Carter Thicke administration as to who can work and who cant. Employee funds that come from other appropriations can continue to work. They are fee funded and they can continue to work. If they are fee funded, they can work. Host whats an example . Guest for example, some operations of customs officers are funded by fees because you pay a fee every time you fly on an airplane. That would go to paying that persons, certain persons salaries or checking passports. Those employees, you pay a fee to get your passport renewed and that helps pay the salary of the employees who process those. There are also exceptions for employees who work to protect life or property, basically how they call it. Anyone working national security, defense department, homeland security, Justice Department are also working protecting property the government owns. Its part of that exception. Host how many federal employees are furloughed today . Guest the administration is taking a new approach to this. According to the Agency Guidelines on who would be furloughed, there was about 850,000 or so. Some agencies have found funds to stay open longer like the found fundss have to stay open longer like the epa , the energy department, they are staying open at least for the first few days of the shut down based on leftover funds not are putting toward implementing the shut down immediately. Host do some agencies create a Rainy Day Fund . Guest sort of but its breakup located. But its pretty located. Agencies of not done before to this extent. Toldbama administration the agencies to use their on obligated funds as they could but we are seeing more maneuvering between accounts and things like that to stay open. When Congress Appropriates funds, sometimes the those dont have a time limit. If there is left over balances there, they can take that and use it to stay open. The epa and some of the other agencies i mentioned have decided they have enough to do that for a few days or weeks. Becamehe National Parks a symbol of the shut down back in 2013, the signs in front of the world war ii memorial and on the national mall. We are not seeing as much of that this time. Is there a strategic reason to make that happen . Guest the white house has said the Obama Administration tried to weaponize the shutdown and make it so it was in as impactful as possible for political purposes. Obama Administration Official to my that was the case but thats what they are saying. They are trying to do the opposite of that and make it so agencies are staying open as make theossible to impact of small as possible. The National Park service is still furloughing over 80 of the workforce. Host they are putting their signs on the national mall. Some there are still signs but when i was reading it, it said you can still do your camping overnight but we might not have the personnel we usually do, some of the facilities might be close like that to rooms because they dont have the people there to service them. They are trying to keep the open air memorials and monuments and parks open as much as they can and closing off certain parts that it would not be safe to go on with someone there with someone not there to help you. Host a republican has a tweet from yesterday you can see he put together a composite richer during the 2013 shutdown, what it looks like near the Lincoln Memorial from the world war ii memorial and the same shot from the current shutdown. We are taking your calls this morning as we talked to eric katz, the Senior Correspondent from government executive. We want to hear from you and hear your questions about this shutdown. As folks are calling in, will federal employees get back pay for however long this lasts . Guest most likely, most of them automatically will, roughly 60 of the federal workforce will still be working throughout the day even though the government will shutdown and all military personnel are still on active duty and working. They are not getting their paycheck that they would normally get but they are guaranteed to begetting backpay wants the government reopens. The rest of the workforce who , they aresent home not guaranteed to get back pay but historically in 2013 and in the 90s during the clinton , congress voted retroactively to grant federal employees back pay. There are already bills in the congress to do that again. Host we promise to keep you updated about President Trump tweets this morning your phone calls with eric katz of government executive, jim is up first from wake forest, north carolina, good morning. Ask,r i just want to congress can still override the president s veto. Everybody is calling each other names and blaming them, they can just override the veto and make it law. Im looking at how the congresspeople will still be getting paid, why cant they do that for the military and why not stop their own pay . Military notd the getting their paychecks like will see if that gets impacted but they are guaranteed back pay. Members of congress will be getting paid. Thats the way the law works. Host why is that . Guest thats just the way it works. Working through the shutdown. Many lawmakers have already come out to say as long as there is a shutdown, im not going to take my salary, i will donated to charity or Something Like that. We saw that a lot in 2013 as well. About the question president the congress overriding the president ial veto. We get to that stage, we can cross that bridge. We willll happen see what happens on an effective vote at noon about the continuing resolution and senate is expected in at 10 00 and then a boat is expected. The house is in at noon today as well. There will be plenty of action on capitol hill and we will keep you updated on all of this. We go to fredericksburg, pennsylvania, a federal worker, good morning. Caller good morning. My concern is for the military. Im a retired air Traffic Controller and was not furloughed but i was essential personnel. Father wasitary, my and soan of world war ii was my fatherinlaw and my grandfather fought in world war ii and im a veteran of the via numb. My son is in the garden. This fight is for the citizens of the United States and the argument is not for the citizens of the United States. They are on a legal status. Thank you. Host tillman has a question on twitter do you have a number . We see around 60 of the workforce still working throughout shutdown, 40 furloughed. Thats the number of employees working but as far as services, it might be a different breakdown. The workforce is tilted disproportionately toward Veterans Affairs and providing health care for veterans and the defense department, homeland arerity and those agencies way more functioning that some of the other agencies. Host you said some agencies have found money to function, how long can they last . We will see after a week, more agencies going to the normal shutdown procedures if we make it that long. The epa said they have about a week. We will see how long they can stretch out those dollars. Host are federal workers allowed to work from home during the shutdown . Guest no, if they are furloughed, they are legally required to not work. Otherwise, they would be violating unpaid volunteer laws that apply to the federal workforce. If you are furloughed, you are to look at your government device or check your email and not allowed to answer calls from coworkers or anything like that. You have to be sitting there, not working. Host how is that working out for stephen in missouri. . Worker, 37 years, my experience and i have been through many shutdowns, we always got back pay. Im not saying we will get that now. I have no idea. It does harm are the newer type federal employees. They get very apprehensive. They are young and starting families. The older guys, the older ladies , we have been through it and we try to calm them down. I want to make another point about not working. The gentleman makes a very good point. We were told you will not work at home. Needless to say, many others did. A two orame back after three week shutdown, it was utter chaos to be able to serve the public and get caught up. The gentleman makes an excellent point. We were told specifically that you will not work from home. Needless to say, some of us did, thank you. He raises a good point about coming back from a shutdown, there has been studies as to how much money has been wasted during this time and how work piles up. Arraye this across a wide of government offices that get backlog because of the way the work had to stop during a shutdown. Federal employees get worried retirementssing new , that all stops. Backlog piles up during a shutdown. He said that employees were trying to do some work from home. They are not supposed to during a shutdown. For the most part, a lot of that stuff is getting backlog. Mentioned retirement benefits. To current federal retirees see any impact by the shutdown . Guest i believe they will still get their benefits. There is a carve out in shutdown procedures where earned benefits still get paid out like social security. They should be ok. Red bluff,t is in california, a republican. Go ahead. Caller my daughter is in the military. Shes not getting paid. That is ridiculous. This has to do with the democrats. Number two, you have allowed a your phone and call and ifnt trump a nazi somebody were to call obama Something Like that, you would have every democrat on the phone calling for you to be fired. I will get a hold of cspan and tell them that i want all the and havens to call in you fired. That is ridiculous to allow that. That is an american. Thank you, goodbye. Brenda is in manchester, washington, federal employee and also a democrat, go ahead. I wanted tohere, talk more about the cr. Shutdowns arethat never good. They should not happen and i feel bad for everybody affected. S not about mike has been its not about my husbands current position but he to run the Business Office for the Pacific Carrier fleet. They were the only ones who can authorize any expenditures toward the carriers for the big huge projects. This is a nightmare. Its really hard on them to constantly continue to work on these continuing resolutions. I dont want to say that i approve of the shutdown my husband certainly does not. Not said it, thats why the republican senators were voting against the cr because they are tired of them. Thats what needs to get worked out in washington. Give them a budget. , i honestly think the republicans wanted the shutdown. And repealingorm aca, they are working with the senate to see what they can pass. You cannot pass the reconciliation on a budget. They knew this would not pass. Up because they wanted to see if the democrats would hold their ground or shut down the government. Trump is not getting involved is a big deal maker. I would challenge who really wanted the shutdown. I challenge anybody to show me what democrat was ever a proponent of a shutdown. They have made remarks in the but only republicans have been against government. Host you mentioned that President Trumps involvement, here is a tweet from him just now we will keep watching thattwas it the president s twitter page. Can you walk us through how the continuing resolution impacts the employees question mark guest . Guest a lot of the attention has focused on the immigration side of things. The democrats i have spoken with on the hill have said the real reason they are ok with this is they want a full year appropriation budget and dont want to keep doing the cr. It hurts their ability to plan longterm, to start new projects, to cancel old projects that are not working anymore. Host explain that. Guest the way the appropriations process works is when there is a new full year appropriation, lawmakers go through line by line at every agency and say you have this amount of money to do these things. They spell out exactly what projects they can work on and sometimes what they cant. In a cr, none of that happens. It just says keep doing what youre doing at the same level. There is no specificity and there is no new planning or anything along those lines. Kansas, anrado, independent, go ahead. Go ahead. About hi, i dont care daca and the wall. I want to know what else is in the bill. Where will the money go and how much money is going to be spent . Why cant we talk about that . Host which bill are you referring to . They are trying to pass to bring the government back. Host walk us through the threeweek continuing resolution. Guest it would go toward everything. This is what funds the government across the entire scope of what government does. The latest proposal would last three weeks. It would keep spending at what agencies were doing in 2017. It would keep those levels consistent for the next few weeks. It would carry us forward into and then we would have to go through it all again. Louisiana, line for republicans, go ahead. Observation, i was 28 Years Air Force and spent nine years as a federal Civil Service employee. I have a little knowledge of whats going on. That the United States active duty military must report for duty but they will not get their paycheck. Eventually, i understand, they will get their paycheck. The federal Civil Service employee be treated the same way . They are being furloughed which means they dont come to work but they will eventually get their same paycheck. That vacation when i was working. I cannot understand why if something is good for the united but notilitary to work get paid while they are working but eventually get paid, why cant the same thing apply . The guestmment by about its about the budget, its not about the budget. If it was about the budget, it would not have the dream act stuff in this legislation. I cannot buy that argument. Guest a couple of thoughts on that the democrats tried to put forward after the Government Shutdown a bill to ensure the military personnel get paid on time on a normal schedule. Congress did that in 2013 when the Government Shutdown 20 sure that no paychecks were delayed for military. Mitch mcconnell blocked that measure. I think they dont want to make this dreck out longer by taking away the pain of a shutdown. Keep trying to ensure there are no delayed paychecks for the military. As far as the Civil Service, they also are guaranteed back pay if they are working. They have toot, wait and see what happens. Some have called it a paid vacation since they usually get back pay. Federal employees would take issue with that because they have uncertainty and bills to pay and they dont want to wait a couple of weeks until they get paid. Can you talk about what the federal employee unions are doing right now and what they are asking for . Guest they obviously want to end the shutdown. This is a breadandbutter issue for what they stand for. Federal employees to essential work, not just ones working today are sometimes called essential employees. They are saying the should not be allowed to happen. Against thebying shutdown and there were number one issue is insuring back pay like we were discussing. They are also trying to educate thepublic that these are kinds of services that are not happening when the Government Shutdown. You might not notice it on day one but people are feeling the pain and its not just National Parks. Host tell us about the United States postal service. Here is a tweet guest agencies that are , they receive no appropriations from congress. They are funded through selling stamps and other mail services. They stay open in a shutdown and have money to operate. They dont rely on congress to give them their funding. They continue to deliver. Federalbecca is a employee in goshen, indiana, good morning. Caller yes, i am a disabled that. I was of that. Vet. 2013 shutdown and as a disabled vet i am heartbroken looking at the civilian side through the 2013 shutdown, i never saw that pay. , istatus today over 20 years requested to go on leave because i see this on a daily basis. I am a republican and proud of it and i work with people in a large city who i know are publicly very much the other way. I have to go in now and ask for my pay, and asked her five days, because it was suddenly andended for me personally i wont go into the details. I have that little added thing that i will have to go through to get my pay. What i have seen is the unions are doing nothing. That might be in my particular area but they basically sit in liberal circles, i dont want to get into the politics, but i am affected daily by this. At this point, i am forced to sit under the same people that did it last week knowing that i will now have to have more days of my pay too big for. Im a disabled veteran on the heartbroken for my country and the people on active duty who are forced to go through all of this. Host thanks for sharing your story. Guest im not sure about her but theparticular interesting point she mentioned is that federal employees who are furloughed are not allowed to take leave in order to continue to get paid. Anyone who has their regular annual vacation or sick leave, that is canceled and you are in furlough and not paid. Host any estimates as to how much the shutdown is costing per day . Guest i have seen some that put it as much as a couple of billion dollars a day. From the estimates that came out after the last shutdown, 20 or 30 billion impact on the economy. That was the author that was the 2013 shutdown. It had a substantial impact and maybe slowed the decimated the slowing economy affected that. Host alexandria, virginia, john is a democrat, good morning. Caller i thought the buck stopped with the president but he is apparently not involved in all in this entire thing. I would encourage every single last person who gets their check from a Trump Company to go on strike right now until the government opens backup. Thank you. Host any thoughts on that . As far as President Trump getting involved, there have actually been several republicans in the senate and in congress who have said that they want to negotiate in congress, passed something without the white house getting involved. They have sort of upended previous negotiations and change some of their positions around or thats what the lawmakers feel. And want to hammer this out have President Trump stay out of it for now. Know whenwant to the pandacam when the panda cam will reopen. They keep a 24 7 camera on the panda which is the pride of that washington zoo. Onto to theo national zoo website and watch that. The smithsonian museums stayed open the weekend and today as well but eventually they will be closed to the public. Host so they were able to find three more days of funding question mark guest yes, the smithsonian is a weird, Publicprivate Partnership because they receive a lot of fundraising from the private sector. They have stayed open for the initial weekend. In florida, line for republicans, good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Sayer i would just like to that i am a republican. I respect President Trump. I want him to stand his ground. And as far as those democrats, they planned this to shut him down on his first year because all of them women, all of them ugly women that was up there citizens, but we, as the Senior Citizens of florida are not worried about everything being closed up because we will get our money. President trump, stand your ground. Go down there and fire half of the democrats and all of them republicans that are not going to vote. We dont care about daca. Host anything you want to pick up from that . I think she was referencing the womens march that happened over the weekend here in d. C. And throughout the country. This was times to be on the oneyear anniversary of President Trumps inauguration but thats how host it played out. Host michigan, independent, good morning. Caller thank you, washington journal. I appreciate the coverage all day saturday. Bill did a fabulous job in between episodes of the senate and the house. Im calling directly to speak to mr. Katz. He says its always been like that regarding the senators and the congresspeople getting their pay. You are talking to a 70yearold. A very young at heart 70yearold. I believe it was carter. They used to get paid prior. I think it was carter that put so that theylation did not get paid either when there was a shutdown. He was worried about the congresspeople picking up extra the payola under the table. It was in the law that they that theypaid only so would get paid up money from companies to do the companies bidding. Mr. Katz, check your facts. Thats also to that woman on the open phones. That answers her question. I think it was done by president carter. Thats all i have to say. Host anything you want to add . Guest the shutdowns were happening commonly in the carter era back in the late 70s. Motivated the current structure of the shutdown. Memo from the department of justice that came 1979 that said federal agencies can continue eight cant continue to operate like normal. Previously, agencies just sort of kept going. I think that led to more shutdowns and made it hard to exley pass budgets. That made it hard to pass budgets and that led to a change. Host virginia, democrat good morning. Go ahead. Caller what i want to say is thee is no point in playing blame game. We are past that but we need a compromise to fix it. The cruelest thing in all of this is that any veterans or anybody else having a disability hearing or something scheduled, all of that a shutdown and it adds to the backlog. This just a bigger pile for everybody to dig through, thank you. Host eldon has a question on twitter that depends on which state they are in. I think most states would allow that. It happened during 2013. Employee isughed given back pay, they were required by the state to repay them Employment Benefits they received because they ended up being paid but were not entitled to those benefits. Check with your state. You might qualify for that but you might have to pay it back if congress decides to give you back pay which has always historically happened and this white house has endorsed. James is in grundy, virginia, independent, good morning. Caller thank you for taking my call. They dont have the votes for the daca thing so they took it back. Isdaca, what they need to do the young ones that were brought do anythinghey can they want except for voting. There andstay out they will be good. Then get limit terms for congressman. The first congressman voted in did not stay for 40 years and come out with millions of dollars. They do not even get paid. I appreciate it. Host our line for federal employees, jackson is in wisconsin, good morning. Caller good morning. Was a the late 90s, i military officer. Hello . Host we are listening. When i retired, i was given choices if i could work for the federal government or uasi entity of the government. In 2013, they were going to shut faireut i was for quai where we only use the government program. Because itsaid not controlled by congress. We make our own money. We pay our own wages and pensions. Those are choices for military that once they retire, make sure they written that make the right choice. Do you want to work for the government where you dont get paid or work for a quai fair entity . With the National Parks being closed down, i can see what president obama did it because there is garbage that has to be cleaned up in the letter. L itter. With mr. Trump, hes leaving it open so when the government reopens, he has to clean up everyones mass. Thank you for taking my call. The caller raises a good point about keeping some of the parks open or somewhat open during the shutdown. We have talked to a lot of experts who are advocates for the National Parks and we have talked to the former National Park service director. They raise a lot of concerns with the administration as to who will clean up some of the garbage. Who will make sure all of the trails are safe and responsive to emergencies when people are there and things along those lines. About howsome doubts that is going to operate. The caller raises the point of military put personnel leaving service and choosing the right job. That is a good reminder, i think about 30 of the civilian workforce are veterans. They are feeling a big brunt of this shutdown. Was a story yesterday that some Disaster Recovery efforts will not happen under the shutdown. Which ones, where . Recovery to recovery, some of the longterm stuff that the Emergency ManagementAdministration Agency does is not happening during a shutdown. The more immediate, lets get and get the debris out of the way and that sort of stuff is still happening. Thats the protection of life thatne of the exceptions congress and the Justice Department allow for. Some of the longerterm preparation stuff and longterm recovery is not happening. Its important to remember that if there is a new emergency that happens like in 2013, fema brought back more employees because he knew Tropical Storm was about to hit so they recalled furloughed employees to help prepare for that. That is something that is still in the cards. Host ron, georgia, republican, good morning. Caller i would like to quote an article by john hudson on caring of illegals and the cost 135 billion per year. State and federal spending on Illegal Immigrants jumped over 6 last year setting a new record at more than 135 ilion dollars annually. Thats according to a study by the federation for American Immigration reform. By 35osts have jumped billion since 2010. Tax paybacks by undocumented workers reached 19 billion last year. Costmakes the net taxpayer of caring for illegals at about 116 billion per year. The expense for most of those costs are 46 billion for education for their children, 23 billion for Law Enforcement for their criminal behavior, 9 billion in welfare, 29 billion , and estimatedts 99 of immigrants who enter the country illegally use Emergency Medical Services at some point according to that report. Some undocumented immigrants also receive medicaid benefits despite not being eligible to enroll. Host talking about a lot of numbers they are. There have been some reports about how improper payments the government makes, thats been an ongoing problem for years and years. The crux of where this , aboutement is happening individualscumented who came to this country when they were children brought here and they havets legal status currently but its expiring soon because President Trump ended a program that president obama initiated. They are trying to negotiate what to do with how to handle that situation. ThenPresident Trump talks about adding other immigration measures and Border Security type of steps. Thatrt of a larger deal would allow those 700,000 individuals to stay here legally. Host federal worker in manassas, virginia i,an are you . T home today question ma guest caller my wife is a fedel worker and im asking for her. Is, my wifes coworkers are texting back and forth and asking if the vote goes on at noon, if they can go back to work this afternoon. When officially does the government come back open . I thought the government opens whether they officially approved the appropriations measure. Guest the senate is supposed to vote at noon and the lycos of the house and in the white house for a signature. Would be even if they pass something this afternoon, omb, office of management and budget, would instruct employees to come back tuesday morning. Its possible we could see a faster turnaround but it depends on how quickly congress can act. Its worth noting that all federal employees just about should be in the office today. They had to go in this morning even if they are furloughed, to implement whats called an orderly shutdown. They have to secure their desk and make sure any files that are out are put away, pass on information to employees that might need it. After three or four hours, they will go home and wait to see what happens. Host springfield, virginia, ron, independent, go ahead. Caller its important to make it Crystal Clear to the taxpayers in the country that the federal employees always, always, always get paid. They never lose a dime. We should never use the word unpaid in a shutdown. Say woe is the federal employee but they are getting additional Vacation Time through this process. People who go to work every day and understand the concept of furloughs and sacrifice, to import they understand federal employees always get paid. They always have and they always will. The only sacrifice is delayed compensation. Maybe have people call in over the country who have more federal employees and ask them how they feel that they can take time off but their pay would be delayed. Its important to make that point. Guest the federal employees i have talked to come i dont think any of them would take that deal. Its fair to say they have always been paid back. Goingre still risking od wherea pay peri their paycheck would come in normally and they would not get it. They have bills to pay and groceries to buy. These things dont wait for the backpay to kick in. Its something that many employees struggle with. Employees are making tons of money so some of them are counting on each paycheck. Often to be a paid vacation sometimes but thats not until much later. Ellicott city, maryland, a democrat, last call in this segment, go ahead. Caller you listen to some of the callers, im confused why it seems like many republicans have a disdain for public service. It kind of started with reagan a little bit but they want to go to work and we know people who work for the federal government. Im sure there are some places where there is waste but largely come you get dedicated folks who largely dont make a lot of money, who work for the federal and if for some reason, not everybody, but most of us dont show respect. They get paid back but imagine going a couple of weeks without a paycheck, most of us would struggle. Federal employees fault that congress cannot work this thing out. In 2013, donald trump said barack obama is the president , its his responsibility to pull everyone together and work out a deal. Our president today come all he does is tweet and divide folks instead of trying to bring them together. Who wants to negotiate with the president when hes constantly attacking people not only the Democratic Party but the Republican Party and everybody else. I think we all need to have more respect beyond the military with our park rangers, Public Servants throughout the federal government and stop eating such haters. And stop being such haters. Guest that certainly a sentiment that has been a large portion of the federal workforce that republicans in office have sort of disparaged them and have an animosity toward Civil Service. Republicans want to say the government is running more efficiently and effectively. This white house, this president came into office pretty quickly througha proposition executive order to reduce the size of the federal workforce. Butting heads in the shutdown is apple finally that. Host eric katz is a senior government that our conversation from earlier this morning in the third day of the federal government shut down. We will be hearing soon from the minority leader in the house, nancy pelosi. She is expected to hold a briefing at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time, a couple minutes past that at this point. Meetings continuing off the floor. We also hear that republicans are scheduled to meet with their caucus at this hour. The was in at 10 00 this morning eastern. That gaveled out and are expected back at 11 30. They will be voting at noon. Continuing government funding from a shortterm extension through february 8. We heard from the majority leader in the senate talking about that vote and the three things that he thinks they are needing to address right off the top. Ending the shutdown, allowing talks on other important issues, as he called them. That could include dr. And immigration daca and immigration. Also extending chips. A sixyear extension of that program. Take a look here. Voxx reporting what is happening with the Chips Program still unfunded. The sixyear reauthorization is waiting for congress to reauthorize it. Democrats and republicans have so far failed to find an agreement. Take a look at this. So far, no state has said they are at imminent risk of running out of funds, but they expect to run out in february. The senate expected to come back and have hours time and expected to vote on closure, to move forward with the shortterm funding package that would run through february 8. We would take a look here at some tweets from congress members. They are really trying to label this. Either the democrats or republicans faults. Then take a look at this in i wisconsin. Both parties trying to blame the other. Is reporting on a pullback came out this morning. This poll saying more blame the Congressional Republicans for the shutdown than the democrats. Slightly more americans said they would blame republicans on capitol hill over democrats for a Government Shutdown. We have seen protests on capitol hill. Protesters that were there on friday over the weekend and also expected in front of the capital today as well. Going to be hearing from House Minority leader nancy pelosi of california. She is expected to hold a briefing and look at the Briefing Room here. Some of the reporters and others are in place waiting for that to start. Expected to start a few minutes ago. Of course, when all of these negotiations are going on behind the scenes, sometimes these do run later. Gop excited to be caucusing later and the house is in at noon eastern time. Of course, we will be keeping you updated on all that is happening on capitol hill. Tweet from at a amanda with the huffington post. She forwards a tweet from her colleague, sam levine. Looks like they are coming in. Nancy pelosi briefing with other members of congress. Good morning, everyone