Defense Department Press Secretary Geoff Morell. (Pentagon photo.)
by Frank James
At today's Pentagon briefing, Defense Department press secretary Geoff Morrell, was asked about the preparations his agency is making to continue operating in the event Congress doesn't pass the war-spending bill.
He answered by saying that officials within the department were working now to figure out who the "essential" employees are who would have to work even if the department shutdown:
...And so we are, as you know, I think, taking some prudent planning measures just in case that money doesn't come through. Deputy Secretary Gordon England sent a memo throughout the department earlier this week asking for all the departments to begin planning for a possible shutdown, and all the departments are due to report back to him by June 30th with a plan as to what they would do to shut things down. And he's additionally, I think, asked that we figure out who sort of the essential civilian personnel is that would have to remain working even without pay in the event of a shutdown.
Morrell's use of the word "essential" would likely send shivers through some at the Pentagon and cause painful flashbacks for federal employees who lived through the government shutdowns of 1995 and 1996.
That's because all federal workers like to be regarded as essential. Otherwise, maybe federal managers will get it in their heads to start downsizing their agencies.
Indeed, back in 1995-1996 during the last two large federal government shutdowns that resulted from then-President Clinton's budget battles with the GOP-controlled Congress, federal workers got ticked off by the Clinton Administration's use of essential/non-essential terms to describe which federal workers would work without pay and which would just be furloughed.
There was such a fuss that then President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore had to apologize for classifying some workers as non-essential.
Here's a snippet from the Jan. 29, 1996 issue "Insight on the News:"
Just days after they returned to work in November, government workers received an apology from President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. "We are proud of" federal workers, the two wrote. "Any Fortune 100 company would be lucky to have such a work force. No one could say that medical research is nonessential. Or helping American go to college. Or rehabilitating a million disabled Americans. Or keeping our drinking water safe. In the short term they were not emergencies, so the law prohibited them. But they remain essential."
Yet no matter how essential those federal workers were, the old terms just wouldn't do anymore. Next time, the terms will be "excepted" (those who go to work during a shutdown) and "nonexcepted" (those who don't).
So maybe when we next hear from the Defense Department secretary, he'll be talking about "excepted," not "essential" workers if he doesn't want to get hate mail from all those federal employees out there.
• 
• 
• 
• 
Comments
"PENTAGON PROPAGANDA GENERALS SPEAK"
I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
NO I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
MY SPIN WAS BETTER THAN YOUR SPIN, MY SPIN WAS BETTER THAN YOURS.
I'M TOP "PSYOPS"
NO I'M TOP "PSYOPS"
I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
NO I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
BLACKWATER BETTER GET THEIR MONEY OR THEY WILL HAVE TO COME BACK TO MEAN STREETS OF "LOUSIANA"
NO WE WERE THE GENERALS ON THE GROUND!
WE WERE THE "SURGE"
I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
NO I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
I WAS TOP "SPIN" ON 9/11
I WAS TOP "SPIN" ON WMD'S
I BETTER GET MY MONEY!
EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!
Posted by: Roger Morris | June 11, 2008 6:55 PM
You know who I think is one of the most glaring examples of an non-essential federal employee and I would give him a one-way ticket back to Crawford. He could have went back there, years ago and maybe America could have become a better place, than it now is !! Send a lot of Republicans home, they have sabotaged our government !! Go, Senator Obama !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | June 11, 2008 7:21 PM
The military are esseential gov't employees, as are the FBI and CIA to name a couple; but walk into any large federal office building such as Commerce and Education and tell me you couldn't do away with 10% of the work force and not miss a beat.
Posted by: Terry | June 11, 2008 8:26 PM
but walk into any large federal office building such as Commerce and Education and tell me you couldn't do away with 10% of the work force and not miss a beat.
Posted by: Terry | June 11, 2008 8:26 PM
I see....don't raise taxes in hard times...but hey...why not cut 10% of government jobs.
Posted by: bill r. | June 11, 2008 10:25 PM
Commerce and Education and tell me you couldn't do away with 10% of the work force and not miss a beat.
Posted by: Terry | June 11, 2008 8:26 PM
Yes, since the Repubs are in charge and they have little use for education for themselves (Terri) or anyone else, then yes, the Education offices might as well be shut down....until Jan 08 when Prez Obama takes office and the rest of the world will get a chance to see that America is not entirely made up of knuckledragging mouthbreathing Republicans like Bush, Cheney & Terri.
Posted by: John E | June 11, 2008 10:58 PM
No, not all government workers are essential. In fact, I would say most aren't. In fact, when you come right down to it, there are about 51 senators and about 230 Congressmen who aren't essential either.
Posted by: Green Trees | June 11, 2008 11:29 PM
I worked for the federal govt for 19 years, 2 locations in Germany, 3 different times at Ft Benning, Ft Rucker, Ft Bragg, and in PA. At any given time, 25% of the work force could be canned and the machine would work BETTER. There are so many lazy, ignorant employees (not always at the bottom of the chain either) that get in the way of more productive employees. The nepotism is UNREAL. You don't realize how many employees are related because of the different last names. One of the jobs I held was in Security and it was there that I learned how many people on base were related. One family had 29 related people, brothers, sisters, children, parents, cousins.
Posted by: Cynthia | June 12, 2008 4:57 AM
I worked for the federal govt for 19 years, 2 locations in Germany, 3 different times at Ft Benning, Ft Rucker, Ft Bragg, and in PA. At any given time, 25% of the work force could be canned and the machine would work BETTER. There are so many lazy, ignorant employees (not always at the bottom of the chain either) that get in the way of more productive employees. The nepotism is UNREAL. You don't realize how many employees are related because of the different last names. One of the jobs I held was in Security and it was there that I learned how many people on base were related. One family had 29 related people, brothers, sisters, children, parents, cousins.
Posted by: Cynthia | June 12, 2008 4:57 AM
This administration has grown the numbers of non-essential departments and government workers...but aren't most of them friends and relatives? How could they be non-essential when most of them are related in some way?
Posted by: lochnessmonster | June 12, 2008 7:00 AM
Posted by: Terry | June 11, 2008 8:26 PM
You keep up your war mongering. Keep supporting the "military industrial comples" that Eisnehower warned us about. And now President Cowboy has made IKE's worst nightmare come true.
The key to success or failure of any country is EDUCATION. Why do you think the Japanese and Chinese woop our ass in math and science and technology year after year? Now "commerce", I don't really care about. But the most ESSENTIAL dept "IS" EDUCATION.
Our military should only be "bare bones", ready when necessary if we are ever "directly attacked" (AlQaeda), not some huge industrial complex used to try and colonize the world (like Bush has attempted) or attack soveriegn nations that never harmed us (Iraq). Which, of course, has resulted in making American interests abroad less safe. And has emboldened AlQaeda and Iran.
Posted by: syj | June 12, 2008 8:14 AM
Ah yes, essential or non-essential. Back in 1996 I was considered essential so off to work I went. Those that were considered non-essential stayed home. When the budget did finally come those that were non-essential came back to work with full back pay and non use of their leave. Golly let’s see essential and come to work every day or non-essential enjoy a little vacation with no charge to my leave and full back pay when I go back to work. That’s a no brainer folks and totally stupid.
Posted by: Rose Clayton | June 12, 2008 9:45 AM
Having worked for a number of agencies - both military and civilian - in a Federal career extending over four decades, I find it ludicrous that this issue keeps being brought up. Of course there are agencies with missions - and by extension their workforces - which are more significant, or "essential" if you will, than others in terms of their impact on the nation. My present employing agency is one of the many that would fall in the other than essential category, based on this criterion. Similarly, with the so-called "government shutdowns" in the mid '90s, the majority of the civilian workforce continued to work, including all of DoD, USPS, Social Security, FAA, etc., etc., because their ongoing missions were vital to the nation. So why this categorization is found to be so problematic continues to be bemusing to me. The fact is that many agencies could shut down permanently with little or no long term impact beyond a small range of interested "stakeholders." That, ladies and gentlemen, is the dirty little (not so) secret of Federal bureaucratic life.
Posted by: Jeremiah | June 12, 2008 10:12 AM
Whatever your way of life, as long as you are making an honest living, it is all "essential". These are difficult times and tough choices need to be made. But hold on to your dreams, don't be discouraged if you are laid off or find yourself struggling. There will be a brighter tomorrow.
Posted by: Steve34 | June 12, 2008 11:47 AM
Math Whiz,
I guess you need to callessential that gov't worker or workers (they aren't an efficient bunch) that process you unemployment check.
Syj,
Education is essential. Therefore it is too important to place in the hands of the gov't. You are calling the federal Dept of Education as essential. If it was so essential, why was it not created until the late 1970s? (The reason it was created was as a payback to the teachers unions for their support of Jimmy Carter).
Are you holding up this country's gov't run public education system as a model of achievement? If the country's public education system is so good, why does Senator and Mrs. Obama have their children in the pricey University of Chicago Lab Schools and not the Chicago Public School system?
Posted by: Terry | June 12, 2008 9:00 PM