VBA (Veterans Benefits Administration) ran out of money at close of business Monday. I work for VBA, which is not VHA.
VHA (Veterans Health Administration) is funded under a different system, which means they already have FY 2014 dollars. So hospitals, clinics, and other VA-funded health centers will continue operations without fear of running out of appropriated funds.
At my workplace, then, operations continued under normal conditions through Monday. Tuesday morning, however, people were called one at a time into their supervisors’ offices, and presented with either a furlough letter, or an excepted letter. Most of us at VBA are excepted from furlough. The two categories are drastically different. Furloughed employees were sent directly home. They were not allowed to dally, not allowed to finish up what they were working on, not allowed to use VA equipment at work or at home, not allowed to work at all…not even if they agree to do it on a volunteer basis. Excepted employees must work. They are not allowed to take time off, even previously approved time off.
No one gets paid.
We are told that excepted employees will get back pay, and that furloughed employees may or may not get back pay, depending on what Congress decides to do. IMHO Congress will not vote ‘yes’ to deny a paycheck to hundreds of thousands of federal employees. As unbalanced and unfair a painting as it may be, I can’t help but paint a picture in my mind of two categories of federal employees: those working for free, and those on paid vacation.
It was 1995 when I went through this the last time. I was a forecaster with the National Weather Service back then. As an employee whose mission statement was the “protection of life and property,” I felt -a little miffed- but mostly proud to be facing the political storm with a brave face and serving my country. As a nation we MUST keep abreast of the weather situation. Knowing the weather is critical to public safety, to agriculture, to commerce, to wildland management, fisheries…. ok…sorry. My point is, when I helped my team to forecast the weather, it was obvious that I needed to be there.
This time around, I don’t feel the same kind of calling. Yes, taking care of veterans is a job to be proud of, but this is not the same as protection of life and property. It’s deciding who is entitled to benefits checks. The veterans already receiving checks will continue to receive them, but my job is to decide if more people should get checks, or if those checks should be in greater or lesser amounts. Remember VA healthcare is not in jeopardy right now. If a vet is sick, she can go to the hospital.
Working during a government shut down doesn’t feel very noble this time.
Not when I compare it to other jobs in terms of who is Mission Critical. FEMA was sent home. I can hardly believe it was successfully argued that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is less important to our nation than paying somebody $129 a month because their ears were damaged while working on the flight deck. Honestly, I’d be glad to forfeit my $129 till next month if we could send FEMA back to work.
I’ve been trying to discover why I feel so sour about this, and I suspect it’s because I don’t want to go to work. I am dying for a break. It’s a hard place to work, with constant production pressure (each veteran’s claim is a point, and we must earn so many points per day, without making mistakes, in order to keep our job), no end in sight (something like 13,000 pending claims in the state of Oregon), media harassment (the backlog!), and mandatory overtime on top of all of that. The government shut down means all of that is still true AND we aren’t getting paid.
Motivation in this girl is about as low as it gets.
The bright side is that during a government shut down there is no mandatory overtime! Woo hoo!
The bright side is that I love my co-workers and my supervisor, and even the veterans (many of us ARE veterans), and we are all in this together.
The bright side is that I cashed out a certificate of deposit, so I have enough money to get by for at least a month.
The bright side is that I live in the United States of America, and even though my Congresswomen and men are behaving like second-graders and I am embarrassed for this to be witnessed by the rest of the world…I can say to them, “You people are a bunch of effing idiots!” outloud, and in public, and I won’t go to jail for it.
Conscious Engagement 
They ARE a bunch of effing idiots and I just told someone today that we are an embarrassment to the rest of the world.
Are we keeping track of the ways we are alike yet? 🙂
Seriously though … I am sorry you and the other vets are being affected. Just think? Some in congress are insisting that no one is feeling it!
We are shaping up to be kindred spirits, if I’m not mistaken. 😉
Since I published this, Shinseki announced that there actually is a danger of veteran’s benefits checks not being paid if this goes on long enough. Some veterans live on that money. I wish it wasn’t being used as people’s sole source of income, but in some cases this is the truth.
I worry about the federal employees who are their families’ only earner, who may not have had ready cash like I did. I worry about all our local downtown businesses who haven’t had the lunchtime crowds and morning coffee drinkers they’re used to.
It annoys me to no end that the country’s economy is being directed into crisis after crisis, all so arrogant Senators and Representatives can pretend they are fighting some battle for some imagined good.
Thanks for the insider’s perspective, Crystal. It is a strange, strange situation.
Nice to hear from you, Caelan. I am a woman who has a hard time keeping her mouth shut, so take my words with a grain of salt. I speak for myself, obviously. Seems like each federal employee has a completely different story to tell, and I do feel fortunate to have a job to gripe about.