Congress was expected last Friday to pass a measure that would allow 280,000 furloughed federal employees to return to work this week and start paying 480,000 “essential” employees, who have been working without a paycheck since Dec. 16.
Federal workers involved in the auctions for personal communications services and 900 MHz specialized mobile radio licenses are among the deemed “essential” employees, who were working last Friday-without pay-as the GOP Congress and White House continued to try to hammer out a balanced budget plan.
During the November shutdown of government, auction workers were deemed nonessential, but Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt asked the Office of Management and Budget to reclassify 40 FCC auction employees essential to government operation so they could oversee the auctions, which started up again last week.
The spectrum auctions are a pretty substantial cash cow, having contributed almost $11 billion to the U.S. Treasury to date.
Hundt told RCR that it would have been silly not to hold the auctions during the shutdown, given that money is what the ongoing budget debate is all about.
Yes, it would have been silly to stop the auctions. Every day the C-block auction, in particular, is not held, the Treasury stands to lose money because the value of the licenses diminishes. The FCC successfully argued that point in court after Radiofone requested to stay the C-block auction in October.
But where did Hundt get the idea that there should be any place for reasoned thinking in this budget impasse between the GOP and White House?
Federal employees are either not going to work and not getting paid, or being forced to go to work-under threat of being fired if they don’t show-and still not getting paid.
Yet members of Congress are still collecting at least part of their paychecks. Oh, a few in Congress have announced plans to not accept their paychecks or put the money into an escrow account during the shutdown. How noble. I’m betting they can afford to do it.
In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of working folk, small businesses and major corporations have been stuck in their business tracks because the people we elected can’t do their jobs right.
It never should have come to this in the first place. But since it did, the least that should have happened is Gingrich, Dole, Clinton and the rest should not be getting paid.
