Mark Warner on the Shutdown

From U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), editorial comment below:

"
Dear Friend,
It is clear that Virginians are being hurt by this government shutdown. More than 170,000 federal employees and tens of thousands of government contractors live in our Commonwealth, and in the face of this pointless shutdown, I am determined to make sure Virginians can return to work and that our government gets back on track. You can read my Washington Post op-ed on the plight of federal workers and contractors below.
So far, I have put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on bills to reopen the government—bills that have already passed through the House and have had support in the Senate. I will continue urging the Majority Leader to bring these crucial bills to the floor until the shutdown is over. I have introduced a bill to make sure that federal workers who have been furloughed receive back pay as soon as the government reopens, as well as legislation that would protect federal workers and their families from foreclosures, evictions, and loan defaults during a government shutdown.
I am also working with several of my colleagues on a bill to secure back pay for the hardworking federal contractors who have also gone unpaid during this shutdown. These workers include janitors, security guards, and cafeteria staff – many of whom were already living paycheck to paycheck prior to the government shutdown.
Additionally, when it became clear that an underfunded and understaffed IRS would not be able to issue tax refunds, which many families depend on, I pressed Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for answers on how Virginia’s taxpayers would be affected by the shutdown.
The President may be ‘proud’ of this shutdown, but I see it for what it is – an unnecessary tactic that hurts families across the country. I will continue fighting to ensure that Virginia’s workers are not used as bargaining chips and that families everywhere can regain financial stability.
In the meantime, federal employees and contractors affected by the shutdown can find some useful resources on my website, as well as a contact form where you can share your thoughts on the shutdown.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
"

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Editorial comment: I'm sorry about the contractors who aren't getting paid; they should be using this time to prepare to get back into the private sector. But I've been online all day in a cafe where people are watching the state legislature and talking about politics and government, and it's not merely the editorial "we" with which I say: We the People are not missing those non-essential federal employees, at all. Their shutdown needs to be made permanent, or as one employer of mine posted permanently in the top center of the bulletin board, "If you walk off the job, do not expect to have a job when you come back." We the Taxpayers would rather keep more of our money. That is why so many people voted for, and still support, an otherwise deeply unlovable character who's famous for telling all kinds of people, over and over, "YOU'RE FIRED."

We need not just cuts to spending increases in each year's budgets, but cuts below the current level of spending, in all departments of federal and state budgets. We need serious frugality. Ever-increasing spending is not sustainable and needs to be reversed.

"That's so meeean! We can't afford to live in Washington on what we earn in forty, fifty, even sixty hours a week..."

Right. You can't. Nor can I. It is, however, possible to live outside Washington. There are people who seem contented with their lives who've never even visited Washington, or any of the other places where people are paying $1000 a week for a hotel room. In past years I've lived (not in a way I'd recommend to anyone) on less than US$50 per week. So can you. And if people just accept that they're not going to make US$1000 per week any more, and get out of the places where they need more than US$1000 a week to have a place to stay at night, then they can adjust to the fact that the Years of Totally Unsustainable Reckless Waste are over, and they can learn how to live on what their work is actually worth to private individuals in the real world. And this adjustment will spread back to Washington, and we'll hear no more about people who are making six-figure annual salaries and still can't afford to rent hotel rooms.

Frugality must begin somewhere. Let it begin here and now.