Government Shutdown: Shea-Porter Wants to Cover Furlough Pay

U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) has co-sponsored a bill that would ensure that all federal employees receive back pay for the duration of the government shutdown.

The bill, called the Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act, would ensure that those workers furloughed due to the shutdown receive retroactive pay for the days missed.

"More than 800,000 hard working public servants will lose their pay because Tea Party members of Congress refuse to fund the government," Shea-Porter said. "Congress should pass a funding bill now along with this common sense legislation."

In New Hampshire alone, Shea-Porter said 1,520 workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard have been furloughed, along with hundreds of New Hampshire National Guard members. And the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Hampshire has furloughed almost half his staff.

Shea-Porter said retroactive pay has always been provided after past shutdowns, and providing that assurance again would be a step toward regaining the trust of the nation's federal employees.