{"id":296970,"date":"2019-01-17T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=296970"},"modified":"2019-01-21T14:26:52","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T19:26:52","slug":"a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/","title":{"rendered":"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUSH: This is Gainesville, Virginia, and Jeff. Welcome, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Rush, it\u2019s my honor to be on with you. How are you hearing me?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you. I\u2019m hearing you fine, actually.<\/p>\n

\"\"CALLER: I\u2019m hearing you well also. Interesting times ahead. In the next week we\u2019re gonna pass a threshold with the government shutdown, the partial shutdown, which will trigger what\u2019s called a reduction in force review where all these people, the nonessentials that are not going to work, but are still waiting on getting paid, their positions are in jeopardy of never being reinstituted.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah. I knew this was gonna happen. We had a caller about this yesterday, and I said, “Shhhh. Don\u2019t mention this, don\u2019t mention it. It\u2019s just gonna alert people that this is on the way to happening, and it\u2019d be better to keep it a secret.” But this has been blown now. So I may as well go through this. You\u2019ve touched on it.<\/p>\n

The nut of this is, folks, what the caller was wanting to talk about yesterday, I shut him down, Trump can start laying off permanently furloughed workers after 30 days. So if the shutdown goes 30 days, all the furloughed workers, Trump can wave good-bye, see ya, you are done, and it\u2019s a law. It\u2019s called the reduction in force procedure.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s an option, to lay off all furloughed government workers after their furlough reaches 30 days. Trump is on day 26, maybe 27 by now. He hasn\u2019t signed any bill — wait a minute. Wait a minute. Hold it a minute. Somebody help me out. I thought I saw a link earlier today, I didn\u2019t print it. Has Trump signed anything or guaranteed back pay to furloughed workers? Well, that may negate this. If he has done that, if he has signed anything that will guarantee back pay for furloughed workers, then I think he has taken off the table the option for reduction in force. I\u2019m gonna have to double-check that.<\/p>\n

\"\"I have a story on this from the website Big League Politics<\/a>. President Trump can save taxpayers more than a billion dollars per week if he lays off the approximately 800,000 nonessential workers who are not getting paid. Now, in deciding who stays and who goes, federal agencies have to take four factors into account: tenure, veteran status, total federal civilian and military service, and performance. Those are the things that can be used to determine whether somebody is going to be laid off after they\u2019ve been furloughed.<\/p>\n

But I think this whole thing becomes inoperative or academic if the president guarantees back pay. Because if he guarantees back pay then by definition, you\u2019re not going to let them go. You\u2019re not gonna engage in the reduction in force if you\u2019re gonna pay them. I need to double-check that, but I know he signed the back pay. I\u2019ve had that confirmed. What that means in terms of reduction of force is what I\u2019m gonna have to double-check. Jeff, did you have anything else to say about that? I\u2019ve got 45 seconds here. If you wanted to weigh in on it any more, feel free.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, because it\u2019s a partial government shutdown, it\u2019s an administrative action. It\u2019s not an emergency action. So I think he can argue since it\u2019s administrative that the reduction in force can still take place. If it were an emergency shutdown, it would be different. As far as signing the legislation on the back pay, I wasn\u2019t certain that he signed it yet. I knew it passed, but I hadn\u2019t got a confirmation on that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah. I don\u2019t know if he signed it. But I did see that he said that they were gonna get it, that he has assured them there will be back pay. And he did this in the context of asking some of them to come back to work without pay.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s Jason in Stafford, Virginia. Great to have you on the program. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush. Thanks for taking my call.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You bet, sir.<\/p>\n

\"\"CALLER: So just to lay out a couple things, my entire family\u2019s income is based on our government salaries. The shutdown hasn\u2019t really affected us yet because, something they don\u2019t talk about on the news, is last Friday we still got paid for the 68 hours we worked for the previous pay period. We\u2019re gonna start being affected this next pay period, so a week from tomorrow. The thing is we don\u2019t want the president to back down, my wife and I. I can\u2019t speak for other government employees. We\u2019re scared. We\u2019re worried. We\u2019re thinking about how are we gonna feed our kids, how we gonna pay our bills, we got a letter from OPM for our mortgage, our car payments, and stuff like that. They\u2019ll just throw that month on the end. So we\u2019re covered there.<\/p>\n

But even though we\u2019re worried, we want what\u2019s best for the country. I served in the military for 10 years so I have veterans preference. This whole layoff thing that you guys talked about with the last caller, I\u2019m kind of worried about that, but at the end of the day we do not want the president to back down. We want the wall. If he reopens the government before he gets the wall, he\u2019ll never get the wall. So keep it going, don\u2019t lay anybody off because, you know, we didn\u2019t do anything wrong, but fight for the wall. You have to fight for the wall. And I think the president should come out every morning, go outside to where the cameras are and invite Chuck and Nancy to the White House every single morning, invite them to the White House to negotiate. And then every night go back out and say they didn\u2019t show up. I think that\u2019s all he\u2019d need to do to get them to negotiate.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Not a bad idea.<\/p>\n

CALLER: But do not back down.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Let me tell you something. You\u2019re in a tough position financially, and yet your political heart is with the president. But, you know, you\u2019re right. If he compromises at all on any of this there\u2019s never gonna be a wall if he does any kind of compromise because the compromise will not include a wall. They\u2019re hell-bent on it for reasons that have nothing to do with the wall or immigration.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. But the thing is, what\u2019s best for the country? Is it gonna be a hardship on us financially if it lasts until mid-February? Absolutely it will be. And we\u2019ll have to pull some strings. But my wife and I are responsible adults who have credit cards that aren\u2019t maxed out. And it\u2019s not optimal to have to pay back a credit card because of the interest rates, but to be honest, we can feed our family with a credit card, and if that\u2019s what we need to do, that\u2019s what we need to do because my wife and I — my wife started working for the federal government at 16 and has worked her way up.<\/p>\n

\"\"She\u2019s a GS-12, and she\u2019s not essential unless there\u2019s an emergency. I\u2019m not essential, period. Always have been. But we\u2019re good. We want the wall. We want what\u2019s best for our country because all we\u2019ve ever done in our life is serve our country. And a lot of the Border Patrol agents down there say they want the wall. A lot of them served in the military, a lot of them are my former brothers and sisters. Give \u2019em the wall. Give \u2019em what they need to protect themselves, don\u2019t back down, and don\u2019t let Chuck and Nancy get away with it. They don\u2019t want to negotiate, go out every day and blast them by name. And invite any Democrat willing to negotiate, come to the White House. And then every day go back out and say they didn\u2019t come. That\u2019s not on him. It\u2019s on them.<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019ve been in your position but when I was much younger and I didn\u2019t have any dependents. It was just me. But I\u2019ve been the route where the credit card was the only way to live. I had two major payments that came due in the same 15-day period and I couldn\u2019t make both of them. It went on that way for months and I have an idea what you\u2019re going through. It\u2019s very applaudable. You don\u2019t hear from many people like you who put the country first in a situation like this. So it\u2019s very humbling to have you say these things.<\/p>\n

Hang in, I know it\u2019s gonna work out, as you do. And the president did sign, by the way. It\u2019s official. He has signed a back pay thing, so to whatever extent that that\u2019s some comfort, you know that you\u2019re gonna be back paid, you and your wife both at some point. I appreciate the call. I\u2019m really honored that you are among the people in this audience too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CALLER: The thing is we don't want the president to back down, my wife and I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":285066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"CALLER: The thing is we don't want the president to back down, my wife and I.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Prayias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/\",\"name\":\"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-17T21:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-21T19:26:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\",\"name\":\"George Prayias\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"George Prayias\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/georgeeibnet-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"CALLER: The thing is we don't want the president to back down, my wife and I.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George Prayias","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/APP-091918-EIB-Callers.jpg","width":640,"height":360},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/","name":"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-01-17T21:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-21T19:26:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/17\/a-furloughed-government-worker-wants-the-wall\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Furloughed Government Worker Wants the Wall"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349","name":"George Prayias","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"George Prayias"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/georgeeibnet-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296970"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296970"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":297152,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296970\/revisions\/297152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/285066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}