With the looming threat of a government shutdown tonight at midnight, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing for the worst.
DOE is directing all employees to plan to work on Monday regardless of whether the federal government is shut down, according to a staff notice obtained by POLITICO.
"All DOE Federal employees are expected to report to work on your next scheduled work day and subsequent work days unless you have previously approved leave or are given formal notice by
your management not to report to work. Similarly, contractors should continue to execute on contracts unless and until otherwise notified," the email reads. However, if a shutdown persists "a number of Federal employees could be temporarily furloughed."
During the last government shutdown in 2013, the department was
largely able to avoid furloughs as most of its budget comes from "multi-year" or "no-year" appropriations, POLITICO reports. DOE also employs 100,000-odd contractors and how things play out for them is hardly straightforward. During the previous shutdown, for instance, some national labs had enough funds to keep running for more than two weeks while others could have operated for a month.
For now, everything hinges on
whether the Senate will pass the stopgap spending bill the House sent them yesterday evening. The House voted 230-197 to keep the government funded through February 16.
