A bill to compensate furloughed workers after the government re-opens sailed through the United States House of Representatives 407 to 0 this Saturday.
Elijah Cummings, a Democrat representative from Maryland told reporters, “This is not [the] fault [of federal workers] and they should not suffer as a result [...] This bill is the least we should do. Our hard-working public servants should not become collateral damage in the political games and ideological wars that Republicans are waging,” quotes The Guardian. .
While the bill received little opposition, many worry that promising pay to furloughed workers will take too much pressure off Republicans to re-open the government.
The Washington Post quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, “It’s really cruel to tell workers they’ll receive back pay once the government opens and then refuse to open the government.”
Areas of the federal government such as the National Institutes of Health have been financially hurt by the government shutdown. However, Senate refuses to pass any bills which continue to fund sections of the federal government, instead calling for a bill to reopen the entire government without Republican preconditions.