House Dems urge utilities to keep lights on for feds amid shutdown

A coalition of more than 50 House Democrats on Wednesday urged utility companies not to issue late fees or terminate services to federal employees and contractors impacted by the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The current lapse in appropriations entered its fourth week Wednesday. Later this week, many federal workers will miss their first full paycheck, as Democrats demand that any deal to fund the government also address the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which technically take effect in December, though Americans already see sizeable cost increases as they navigate the ACA marketplace’s current open enrollment period.

The lawmakers, led by Reps. Don Beyer, D-Va., and Sarah Elfreth, D-Md., encouraged power, water and internet service providers in a letter to hold federal employees and contractors harmless for the duration of the appropriations lapse.

“In light of the ongoing federal government shutdown, we write to urge you to suspend all utility shutoffs and late payment penalties for federal workers or federal contractors affected by the shutdown,” they wrote. “Both essential and involuntarily furloughed employees are currently without pay. These workers should not face the additional hardship of losing access to running water, electricity or internet simply because their paychecks have stopped through no fault of their own.”

They noted that the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act guarantees all federal workers, furloughed and excepted alike, backpay once a shutdown ends, though the Trump administration has in recent days sought to advance a legal theory that Congress must still take action to ensure furloughed workers are paid, despite a lack of evidence either within the statute or its legislative history to support it.

“Suspending utility shutoffs for federal workers during a government shutdown is in line with existing statutory protections across the country,” they wrote. “[The] Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 guarantees that federal employees will receive full backpay once a lapse in appropriations ends, ensuring they can meet their outstanding debts accrued during the shutdown. Therefore, we urge you to temporarily withhold all utility service disconnections and suspend late payment penalties for federal employees and provide flexible payment plans once their pay resumes.”

Unlike most previous lapses in appropriations, the financial squeeze federal workers face has varied depending upon at which agency they work. The Trump administration has taken unprecedented steps to pay military service members, immigration enforcement officers and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on time, while simultaneously pushing to issue reductions in force at what the president has derisively described as “Democrat agencies.”