Government employees breathe sigh of relief as government shutdown is postponed

SALT LAKE CITY — A sigh of relief for federal employees, including nearly 27,000 Utahns who work for the federal government.

Congress was able to avert a government shutdown Saturday night after the House passed a bipartisan temporary funding bill 335-91.

The Senate voted 88-9, passing the short-term bill three hours before their deadline. The bill will fund the government until Nov. 17.

“It is nice to know that, you know, we’ll be able to go back to work, get our jobs done…continue to earn our paycheck,” said Robert Lawrence, who had worked for the IRS for 18 years.

Threat of government shutdown ends as Congress passes a temporary funding plan and sends it to Biden

Lawrence is also the president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 67.

“Don’t you know, don’t get us wrong, but we also just know that we’re going go through this again in 45 days,” Lawrence said. “It affects us emotionally because it gives us anxiety. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know how long we’ll have to go without a paycheck.”

The bill includes money for disaster aid and the Federal Aviation Administration. However, there is no additional money for Ukraine or border security, something Utah Congressman John Curtis says he was pushing for.

“Several days ago, we had a chance to vote on a very similar continuing resolution that would have included border provisions,” Rep. Curtis said in a video statement. “Almost every one of our wish list items for the border would have been in this continuing resolution.”

President Biden signed the bill into law late Saturday night.