IFPTE Urges Senate to Support Van Hollen and Peters Bills Protecting All Federal Workers, Reject Sen. Ron Johnson’s Competing ‘Divide and Conquer’ Approach
Senators Van Hollen, Peters, and Johnson offered legislation this week to ensure pay for federal workers. Unfortunately, the only bill that received a vote was Senator Johnson’s bill, which was far from comprehensive.
Before Thursday’s Senate vote, IFPTE penned a letter to Senators noting that, “While we applaud any Senator who wants to ensure that federal workers working during the shutdown are paid on time, we request that you support Sen. Van Hollen and Sen. Peters’ respective bills that improve the Shutdown Fairness Act. Sen. Johnson’s Shutdown Fairness Act overlooks the fact that this government shutdown, and those before it, have resulted in locking out hundreds of thousands of federal workers, far exceeding any lockout in any other sector of the U.S. economy.” Senator Johnson’s bill ultimately failed.