Shutdown all but over for the Pentagon

The shutdown for the Pentagon effectively ended Monday as more than 300,000 civilian workers returned to the job. 

Of the Defense Department’s roughly 750,000 civilian workers, only a small fraction remain furloughed. Most of the military’s 1.3 million active-duty service members are being shielded from the shutdown as well, as multiple services stopped last week are now returning. [WATCH VIDEO]

The Armed Forces Network is putting NFL football and MLB baseball playoffs back on the air for troops overseas, grocery stores have reopened on military bases, and intercollegiate sports involving the service academies will go on.

{mosads}All civilian and military personnel who are working will also receive paychecks on time, unless Congress fails to approve an increase in the debt ceiling.

The return to near normal for the Pentagon came after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced this weekend that more than 90 percent of the 350,000 furloughed Pentagon civilian employees could return to work because of a law Congress passed last week to pay the military.

The Pentagon and Justice Department determined the law allowed civilians “whose responsibilities contribute to the morale, well-being, capabilities and readiness of service members” to return to work

The move means that the Pentagon, which had the most federal workers furloughed when the government shut down last week, is now one of the agencies least affected by the budget impasse.

Some services and offices are still affected by the shutdown. Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale said that most public affairs and legislative affairs workers remain furloughed, as well as those who work on audits.

While Defense Intelligence Agency employees are back to work, much of the intelligence community not under the Defense Department remains furloughed, which Director of National Intelligence James Clapper last week warned could harm national security.

Lawmakers also say there are outstanding questions about whether the Pentagon plans to pay out items like danger pay and death benefits during the shutdown.

“It was Congress’s intent when we passed the ‘Pay Our Military Act’ that these benefits be provided without question to our military families,” House Armed Services subcommittee on Military Personnel Chairman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) wrote to Hagel Friday.

Hagel met with the service chiefs Monday for an update on the shutdown’s impacts. He noted that intelligence activities and death benefit payouts were two “critical programs and benefits that remain halted,” according to a readout of the meeting.

While lawmakers from both parties praised the Pentagon for bringing back most of its civilian workforce, some Republicans criticized the Pentagon for taking until Saturday to do so.

“The President should not have furloughed these hardworking men and women. According to the bill he signed, they should have been allowed to work through this entire shutdown,” said Rep. Michael Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee. “This clearly shows he has been playing politics with these furloughs.”

Congress passed the military pay bill  Sept. 30 in the hours before the government closed. The Pentagon said it had to carefully review the law before determining which civilians could return to work.

Members of both parties were pressuring Hagel to bring back civilian workers back. Half the Senate signed a letter that said the law made “explicitly clear” most civilians could work during the shutdown.

One senior House GOP aide said Pentagon officials had indicated they wanted to immediately issue a broad interpretation to bring most civilians back to work but were delayed by the Justice Department.

“They were hampered, possibly by legal implications, but we suspect and understand political implications by the White House over a concern that once you relieve the national security pressure, there’s a leverage issue there,” the aide said.

Hale said the law did not allow a “blanket recall” of civilians, which meant the department had to undertake a review of its civilian workforce.

“Needless to say, this is a difficult process and a time-consuming one,” Hale told reporters.

The House Armed Services panel plans to hold a hearing this week to look at the military pay law and the impact of the furloughs on the civilian workforce.

The Pentagon did not yet have an exact number of civilians who remained furloughed Monday, but Hale said Saturday the number was “no more than a few tens of thousands.”

Navy spokeswoman Lt. Caroline Hutchinson said that about 70,000 Navy civilians returned to work, with just under 1,000 still furloughed. 

Most of the 154,000 Army civilians and 104,000 Air Force civilians who were furloughed last week were also on the job, although the services did not have exact numbers for how many remained furloughed.

The end of most civilian Pentagon furloughs also led to the cancellation of furloughs within the defense industry.

Several defense contractors had warned last week they would furlough thousands of workers because of the shutdown, particularly if Defense Contract Management Agency inspectors were kept home. The inspectors were among the civilians back at work Monday. 

Sirkorsky said that the 2,000 furloughs it had planned to begin Monday were canceled, while Lockheed Martin said it was cutting the number of furloughs to 2,400 from 3,000.

All but 300 of those furloughs, a Lockheed spokesman said, were a result of “civilian agency work stopping.”