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Budget

NASA Shutdown Is Underway

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 1, 2013
Filed under , ,

Statement by the President
“NASA will shut down almost entirely, but Mission Control will remain open to support the astronauts serving on the Space Station.
NASA Planning for a Lapse in Appropriations Update, NASA Memo
If a FY 2014 continuing resolution is not passed before 12:01 AM on October 1, NASA can only engage in activities related to the orderly shutdown of operations and performance of excepted activities. As a required part of a shutdown, employees who will not be performing activities excepted by law will be furloughed and unable to work for the duration of the shutdown, unless recalled for an excepted activity.

NASA Ames Center Operations During a Furlough
“All NASA employees, unless individually informed otherwise by your supervisor(s), are designated as non-excepted.  This means that, if funding lapses, you will be furloughed.”
Message from the NASA Administrator – Planning for an Orderly Shutdown
“Your managers will begin reaching out to you tomorrow (Thursday, September 26) to provide additional detail on our contingency plans and your status under a potential lapse. These conversations are designed to provide clarity on how a potential lapse will affect you, but they do not constitute an official notice of furlough. Official furlough notices will only be issued on October 1 if a lapse in funding has occurred.”
NASA Internal Memo: Notification of Furlough Status
Letter from NASA to OMB Regarding NASA’s Shutdown plan
“The estimated time to complete the shutdown for routine agency activities, which includes the vast majority of NASA employees, contractor employees, and facilities, is less than on-half day.”
More than 2,000 NASA workers in Huntsville look to Washington today as government shutdown looms, Alabama.com
“Right now, NASA is warning its employees that they may not be paid for any furloughed time off. Pay will depend on future appropriations.”
Appropriations Lapse Could Result in NASA Furloughs, earlier post

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

43 responses to “NASA Shutdown Is Underway”

  1. Gary Miles says:
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    Likely be a deal to avoid government shutdown by end of week according to new reports. Focus now shifts to destroying US credit rating.

    • hikingmike says:
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      Would be nice if they actually showed people they’re not all idiots and did that.

      • Gary Miles says:
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        SOTH Boehner will likely end up depending on Democrats to pass funding bill just like last time.

        • hikingmike says:
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          One of these days maybe Boehner is going to have to make some public campaign calling attention to how stuff is going and an appeal to people in his party to fix things so they don’t slowly dilute power and lose relevancy… and for non-republicans so they don’t push government in general into further dysfunction. I think he could get support for that. I don’t know if he’s the kind of guy that would do it… wish I knew a bit of his thoughts.

  2. Rocky J says:
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    Republicans could choose to not hold millions of government workers hostage and instead wait a few days and force the health care funding upon the question of raising the federal debt limit.

    • NOYB1234 says:
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      They’ve been reporting on the switch to focusing on the debt limit all day….

    • Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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      I think the Republicans realized that causing millions of Federal workers to miss a mortgage payment or worse over 4 % of the total budget would be grabbing the proverbial “third rail” of politics and would be remembered in the 2014 and 2016 presidential election.

  3. Sherye Johnson says:
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    I had a NASA employee tell me that we had to do something about the debt and this “out of control” spending or else our children and grand children were going to suffer. I suggested that he help out and quit his government paid job. He stopped talking.

    • Rob says:
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      He quit talking because you are obviously hostile to him and/or NASA and know very little about where the money in this country goes. To give you a clue, NASA is about 0.5% of the budget and we are about 30% deficit. If everyone in NASA quit it would make not one iota of difference in this argument. It’s the wars and policing the world that cost the real money.

      And I’m not a civil servant, thanks.

      • hikingmike says:
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        So her suggestion would be ok if she had heard that from a military person… 🙂 I know lots of them that take a similar stance. But I guess you’d argue it’s policies that dictates we need military people, so just saying people should quit to do their part is not the way to go, there, hehe.

      • Sherye Johnson says:
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        Spoken like a civil service employee who want cuts in spending…..except on pay day.

      • dogstar29 says:
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        The percentage of the budget that supports NASA is irrelevant. Every dollar NASA spends competes against a dollar in additional tax cuts.

        Personally I have found that a substantial percentage of NASA employees are very conservative politically and blame Obama for anything they find distasteful, whether it is their taxes, which they feel are too high, or the NASA budget, which they feel is too low. They see no linkage between the two.

  4. John Gardi says:
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    Folks:

    The fact that SpaceX and Orbital Sciences will still be open for business on November 1st shows that NASA’s commercial cargo initiative was on the right track!

    tinker

    • Rocky J says:
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      1995 shutdown was 28 days total, the 2nd segment over Christmas was nearly 3 weeks. I suspect this one will run up to the October 17 when the Federal Debt limit is reached. At some point the ‘silent majority’ of Americans will rise up. You might start seeing a glimpse of this near October 17 but no I think it will take more. Like maybe, furlough passed the 17th and the US government going into default and both the shutdown and default unresolved into November. Lifestyle of the average American has to be compromised severely and large price hikes have to happen. The Republicans – in for a penny in for a pound. But neither party is willing to let things lead to mass civil unrest and a breakdown of their personal ATM inside the Washington beltway.

  5. Michael Spencer says:
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    I wonder how public thinking will shift on Oct. 1 when we can go online and see how much cheaper our insurance will be. Or not. I do know that in my case I received a check from my health carrier for more than $1000, mandated by the ACA as a refund; I know too that I got a letter from my carrier saying that they could never ever cancel me, as long as I keep paying my premium, which is over $1k per month.

    I’m pushing Medicare age, so it won’t matter much, but there you go. And when folks start getting routine preventative care without co-pay they will start to realize that this just might make sense.

    The opposition to the ACA isn’t really clear. One hears lots of silly statements (jobs!), but even cursory research shows they aren’t really issues. And god bless the news media for (not) explaining exactly why there is so much visceral opposition.

    • dogstar29 says:
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      Simply making Medicare available to younger Americans would have been far less expensive and simpler than the ACA, which was originally a Republican plan. However many in America today are so politicized that they are not interested in debate. If Obama is for it, they are against it. Much the same logic applies to Commercial Space.

    • BlackHolesSuck says:
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      If you think that free preventative care will make ACA worth it, you might be in a minority. The free annual checkup ($150 savings) are not worth the thousands I’m paying for my high deductible policy. We are a very healthy family but still spend much more in sick visits that we save in preventive care!

  6. James Lundblad says:
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    Will this effect payload processing for MAVEN at Kennedy?

    • Rocky J says:
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      Yes. My question too. Here is information from Orlando Sentinel: << NASA: Only nine workers — out of 2,078 civil servants — will report to work at Kennedy Space Center during the shutdown, according to the agency. That means the processing of a new Mars spacecraft, dubbed MAVEN, will “pretty much” come to a halt, said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel. This could become problematic in the event of a long shutdown; MAVEN must launch its mission to study Mars’ atmosphere by mid-December or wait more than two years before Earth and Mars line up again. >> MAVEN like all Mars missions has a brief launch window (2 or 3 weeks) in December. Launch windows into Hohmann transfer orbits to Mars exist once every 2 years. Recall MSL was postponed 2 years because they weren’t ready. This would be a disappointment for another reason. MAVEN science instruments are ideal for viewing the Siding Spring Comet when it passes by Mars at a distance of just 80,000 miles on October 19, 2014.

  7. Paul451 says:
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    “Right now, NASA is warning its employees that they may not be paid for any furloughed time off. Pay will depend on future appropriations.”

    Wouldn’t that be a breach of their employment contracts? Or do US govt employees have contracts that include exclusions for budget shut-downs?

    • bdunbar_nasa says:
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      We don’t have contracts. Our employment conditions are set by law and administration regs, which can change at any time. There is at least still an implicit understanding we shouldn’t be required to work for no pay, that being slavery and all. Hence, the furlough: the government has no money to pay us, so we shouldn’t work. The exception is essential/excepted employees who must work during the shutdown to protect lives and property. There’s an understanding (again implicit) that they will be paid when the government is funded, but there’s no guarantee.

      • Paul451 says:
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        Every employee has a contract. Even if it’s just an “implicit understanding”. A contract doesn’t have to be a piece of paper with “contract” written on it.

        I’m talking about not being paid for the furlough, however, not about working for free. If you are employed full-time at $X per fortnight, then the employer can’t just arbitrarily say “I can’t afford it this week” unless there are terms in the contract that give them that power. They may be physically unable to pay you, due to a lack of funds, but they are still accumulating the debt to you unless there is a clause in your employment contract that allows them to not pay you under those circumstances.

        And that was my question: Is US Federal employment set up with a specific clause that allows an agency to arbitrarily not be obligated to pay staff if the agency loses funding? Is that a wording in the regs? Otherwise I can’t see how an agency could, legally, just decide that it isn’t going to pay staff for the furlough period.

        • jimlux says:
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          It is exactly as you describe. There’s actually a law that makes it illegal to “volunteer” services. So, no money, no work, no pay. Just like with most workers, you can change the terms of employment on a “going forward” basis. As long as there advance notice, the employee has two choices: accept the work or don’t work. (that’s what “at-will” employment means).

          The labor laws for exempt salaried employees (which is probably what you are thinking of) do have a provision that prohibits “docking”, but that is for “parts of a day”. If your employer closes the plant for a day (or forever), they’re not obligated to pay you for that day. Very, very few non-union employees in the U.S. actually have a contract that obligates future behavior on the part of the employer. (your example of $X per fortnight has the implied “if there is work to do” provision) Employee handbooks certainly do not rise to the level of contracts, implied or otherwise.

          Government has one peculiarity, and that is “comp time”, which doesn’t exist for non-govt employees. Comp time is where an employee can work more hours than scheduled, and “bank” hours for the future that serve as paid leave.

          Interestingly, government employees cannot take paid leave during the shutdown. And “back pay” for the shutdown (essentially turning it into unplanned paid leave) is entirely at the discretion of Congress. In the past, that’s what Congress has done. This time? who knows what they’ll do.

      • dlaugh says:
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        Love the “that being slavery” comment 🙂

        I would like to mention that while civil servants have the potential of being paid retroactively after the shutdown, those of us on contracts or cooperative agreements that are barred from working have no prospect of seeing lost pay restored.

  8. Daniel Raible says:
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    Although the gov may be in rough shape, space is still there, waiting for us, and nothing congress can do will change that. I see some stars looking down at us right now, between the clouds, waiting for us to sort all this out so we can reach up and grab them.

  9. James Lundblad says:
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    Someone on Bloomberg Radio this morning mentioned a very good idea: Automate Congress, save tons of money, I’m sure a data driven machine could do a lot better job.

  10. kcowing says:
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    All healthcare posts have been deleted and all future posts on healthcare will be deleted and/or not posted without warning. If you want to post about the effect of the shutdown on NASA – great. If you want to wave your arms – in either direction – about healthcare – or how much you hate Obama or Congress – go somewhere else.

    • Steven Rappolee says:
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      Can a furlough federal worker apply for unemployment benefits?,

      • whatagy says:
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        Depends on the state, but generally yes. If you got furloughed you should have gotten an SF-8 with your letter.

    • Steven Rappolee says:
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      Kieth,
      I am thinking this healthcare post does belong here,

      A furloughed NASA employee like all other employees are entitled to health care benefits for 30 days under cobra after leaving employment and has the right to purchase that health insurance after 30 days at the then group rates.

      I would file for unemployent

      I would try and excercise COBRA rights

      I would try and use the WARN act, did the congress exempt federal centers from the warn act?( 90 day notice of mass layoff)

      A nasa POA should care enough to maybe answer these types of questions ( or refuse) any NASA insiders able to speak to these questions?

      • rktsci says:
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        According to the DOL, the WARN act does not apply to governments.

        And I don’t think they can get unemployment, as they have a job.

        • Steven Rappolee says:
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          If your job has laid you off even if its temporary you can file for employment,

          if your “job” has stopped paying you and/or told you not to come in for work the it sounds like you do not have a job.

          I would file and take any negative answer to a UE appeals hearing, after all what if the congress never back pays all of these folks?

          and I would ask my NASA center supervisor what happens to my health care 30 days from now.

  11. dogstar29 says:
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    We have been told we cannot volunteer and do our work for free, even though we are required to work unpaid overtime when we are working. Security is working; they are at the gate to tell us we cannot get in. We do not know when we should return to work because we have been told we cannot even check our NASA email since this would be construed as “working”. However members of Congress are still getting paid.

    • whatagy says:
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      It’s not just worker salaries. It’s not legal for the government to accept any goods or services without fair compensation. I purchased a piece of equipment several years ago and it turned out it was going to be delivered late. The vendor offered to send in a demo unit to bridge the gap at no charge and our procurement office said no dice. I thought they were full of it so I looked it up and they were correct. In the end what they didn’t know didn’t hurt them or me.

      It’s hard not to take all of this personally but you really can’t. You report the next business day after an appropriation has been signed so there will be plenty of crawlers and flash reports in the news from your center when it’s time to go back.

      • dogstar29 says:
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        I agree that we will probably hear when this idiocy ends. But NASA really does permit volunteer labor. Just not during the shutdown.

    • Paul451 says:
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      However members of Congress are still getting paid.

      WTF? What kind of retards decided that Congress should… oh… right… never mind.

  12. Gonzo_Skeptic says:
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    Weren’t some NASA administrators supposed to be going over to an astrophysics conference at some Greek resort right about now??

  13. Michael Spencer says:
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    It’s easy to dissociate on this, but the truth is that many families are being hurt. We have broken our promise to these people.

    It’s more than the delay of MAVEN, for example. Those techs still need to visit Publix, work or not.

    The effect on families is hard to stomach. It’s shameful and I for one am very sorry for it.

  14. Robert Karma says:
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    I grew up in the 70’s watching Star Trek in syndicated rerun. It fired my imagination for the exploration of space. I was thrilled when the shuttle program started and I thought we’d see a space station up by 1990 and a return to the moon by 2000. Yes, I was overly optimistic and that vision for space exploration and exploitation was grounded by the lack of funding and leadership in Congress and the White House. The ultimate responsibility lies with the American people who have not voiced their support for NASA and the exploration of space to their representatives in government. We have met the enemy and it is us. Until a majority of Americans decide that funding a robust manned and robotic space program is a priority then we shouldn’t be surprised that Congress ignores NASA and gives it such little respect except for those who view it as a jobs program for their district. This shutdown is a symptom of the deep dysfunction that resulted with the most recent Gerrymandering of districts by the House in 2010. You have a small extreme minority sabotaging the government without fear of sanction or consequence because they are from carefully crafted ideological districts. Until we find a way to work together for the best interests of every American we are probably better off being grounded from space. I am afraid that we would take our dysfunctional behavior with us to the places we would settle on orbit, on the moon, on Mars and beyond.

  15. Andrea Elaine Pearson Haas says:
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    I am so sad that NASA has shut down 97%. I feel that Curiosity is our property and we should have remained open for the function of such property. I love NASA and will go to Goddard once we are up and running again. I will make a note for whenever I go to work for NASA to keep a savings for furlough situations.