House Passes Courtney-Sponsored Bill To Protect Furloughed Employee Wages

WASHINGTON—Today, on the fifth day of the federal government shutdown, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-2) released the following statement on the passage of H.R. 3223, the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, a bill which Courtney endorsed the day the shutdown began:

“Today, the House of Representatives acted to reduce the damage caused by the needless shutdown that continues to drag on. Furloughed federal workers in all agencies of the government, who are the backbone of vital services—keeping our country safe and providing critical support to Connecticut seniors, veterans, students, families, and businesses—received unanimous support with passage of a retroactive pay bill. The bill now heads to the Senate, and—assuming its passage—to President Obama, who yesterday issued a statement of support, for his signature. Over the past several days, I have spoken with dozens of furloughed workers, all of whom are frustrated and angry that they are being denied the opportunity to do their jobs and had their family’s finances put at risk with a potential loss of wages.

“Passage of this measure hardly resolves the damage that shutdown is causing to our country. Indeed, the need to pass a clean budget immediately is even more pronounced, now that Congress has committed to paying workers who still cannot perform their jobs in exchange for their pay. Therefore, Speaker Boehner should not have ordered a recess this weekend. Instead, the House should stay in session and bring the Senate-passed bill to the floor for an up-or-down vote immediately – which the President will sign immediately, so we can put an end to this damaging, unnecessary shutdown, and get all our nation’s workforce back on the job.”