How bout we cut Congress' pay and benefits to make up for some of the shortfalls in the budget. And cut Congress' pay when the fail to to do their jobs.

The con argument is total BS! The members of congress get paid on time but federal workers with children to feed, mortgages & car payments suffer needlessly. The chance of errors is greater on the congressional pay (they don't work & always get paid) than for federal workers who show up every day & do the job! Give me a bloody break. Demonizing federal workers is recreation for the top of the federal food chain. Just stop it!!

Federal employees shouldn't be punished for the Congress not agreeing on a budget.

Many federal employees sign an agreement that they will not take another job while employed by their agency. Therefore the federal employees should be paid as soon as possible because they cannot find another job to fill in the gap during the shutdown. Need to add the employee needs to consult council to very the gap job does not present conflicts of interest. Unable to due to Gov't shut down, council may not be available. Not all federal jobs are high paying.

If Congress stops acting like a bunch of toddlers this won't be necessary, but I think we all know the likelihood of that. Those affected need their pay ASAP after the Congressional stupidity has died down!

Congressional idiocy should not come at the expense of regular working people.

Yes, and cut congress members pay as well during this time period. If we don't do our jobs we get fired, and if you don't do your job as the leader of your business or company you sure lose that job or company. It's not the employees faults that their bosses are so incompetent as to allow for a shut down to happen

The wording of this is straightforward: speed up the process of payment or not. Problems may arise, but it's only human to make mistakes. An addition to this is to have some sort of fund to keep track of all the employees that require the payment, then pay them as early as possible. If they realise that they do not have time, give them a short break and fix those shortcomings in the future.

Don't punish civil servants for Congress' refusal to do their job.

Since it is not the employees' faults at all, and they had to work through it, potentially, they should be paid afterwards. If they didn't work during the shutdown, then they should of course not get paid afterwards.

Most federal employees make a median income and we cannot assume they are all financial gurus and master savers. Some live paycheck to paycheck and delays in payment can really hurt some employees.

It's not congress that shuts down the government. It's the president when he vetoes the spending bill they present. You'd never know that the way the media reports it. Also, the government doesn't completely shut down. All the essential employees still work. FBI, military, etc. all keep working. It's the only constitutional way to stop an out of control president.

Yes - and those that had to work anyway should be paid double. Maybe paid out of the congress's budget because they caused the budget mess in the first place.

The government fails its people when it shuts down. If the government does shut down, all those who depend on it for money, food, or insurance should be paid what they are due. If anyone is to wait for their paycheck and benefits, it should be the politicians who shut down the government with their petty demands to begin with.

There should be NO SHUTDOWNS. The GOP needs to grow the fuck up. That includes my Rep, Mr Brat and his "freedom caucus". Tea Parties are for little girls and their imaginary friends.