WASHINGTON (AP) — John Hubert, an airport security officer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recalls helping fellow Transportation Security Administration workers get essentials from food banks when they worked without pay during the last government shutdown. By the end of the 35-day ordeal, he needed the same help himself.

Steve Reaves, a union leader for workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, went through three government shutdowns while working at FEMA, and remembers having to pull money out of his retirement early to make ends meet during that last one in 2018-19.

Jessica LaPointe, a Social Security Administration worker from Madison, Wisconsin, says she had to rely on financial help from friends and family during the 16-day October 2013 shutdown. In anticipation of the next one, she’s already postponing a planned family vacation to Disney World.

Across the country, federal workers still stung by the memories of past government shutdowns are grimacing and bracing for another potential extended closure. It’s a test not only of their ability to stay financially afloat, but also of their commitment to public service.

“We’re continuously put on the chopping block every year. It’s ridiculous,” said Hubert, 42, who has worked at TSA for 21 years. “We should not be put in this position every single year, then used as a bargaining chip to get legislation passed.”

With a Saturday deadline looming for lawmakers to approve more federal spending — a deal that is looking less and less likely — workers familiar with the exercise in Washington gridlock are increasingly worried.

Hubert, a leader in the TSA workers’ union within the American Federation of Government Employees, representing 1,400 members in his local, is preparing for what now feels like an inevitability — another extended period of work without pay.

“Just like other Americans, we’ve still got to pay our bills, regardless of what’s going on with Congress,” he said. “Officers with children, single parents are going to be dramatically affected if a shutdown continues over a long period of time.”

The White House and congressional Democrats, along with some Republicans, warn that a shutdown could be devastating for people who rely on the government for everyday services while putting a stop to paychecks for federal workers themselves and undermining America’s standing in the world.

“There are real consequences to real people in a real way when there is a shutdown,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said at a White House press briefing on Monday. He estimated 50,000 workers just at USDA would be furloughed, affecting not only the workers but local economies where spending will be constrained.

Johnny J. Jones, secretary-treasurer of the TSA workers unit within the AFGE, said even a temporary loss in pay is a massive disruption for government workers who live paycheck to paycheck.

“People have to pay rent, they have child support payments,” he said. Landlords don’t care about a shutdown, he said, and bills will always be due.

“The number one question in our minds is how long is this going to last,” Jones said.

LaPointe, a mother of four who is also a union leader for 30,000 Social Security workers through AFGE, said a shutdown would be “a catastrophe” personally.

During the 2013 episode, “I definitely had to scramble to make sure there was enough money in my bank account,” she said. “That was a really stressful time.” She said she had to ask friends and family for help, with the assurance that she would be paid back by the government eventually.

On top of prepping for a shutdown, SSA agency leadership and her labor union are currently discussing the terms for potential longer-term furloughs, looking at 4,700 employees who could be let go throughout the year if there were an 8% cut in funding, based on Republicans’ current demands, she said.

“We already have 10,000 less workers since 2010 when baby boomers started to retire,” she said. A Partnership for Public Service survey ranks the Social Security Administration last among agencies in the “Best Places to Work” government-wide index.

“We don’t often feel like it’s worth it to be federal employees at the time of a shutdown,” LaPointe said.

Reaves, the FEMA union president, remembers pulling money out of his Thrift Savings Plan — a retirement and savings plan for federal employees — to stay afloat during the 2018 to 2019 shutdown, which resulted in additional taxes and fees.

“That affects our home finances for the next couple of years,” he said. “You pay extra to catch back up.”

He said that while FEMA workers love helping people and bringing comfort to those in disaster areas, the government gridlock makes their jobs harder. He suggests making pay for members of Congress also stop during shutdowns.

“If their checks were affected,” he said, “then it would be a different story. Then there wouldn’t be government shutdowns.”

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In a reversal for President Joe Biden, a federal appeals court in New Orleans on Monday agreed to reconsider its own April ruling that allowed the administration to require federal employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

The new order from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans vacates an earlier ruling by a three-judge panel that upheld the mandate. The new order means a block on the mandate imposed in January by a Texas-based federal judge remains in effect, while the full court’s 17 judges take up the appeal.

Biden had issued an order Sept. 9 requiring that more than 3.5 million federal executive branch workers undergo vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead, unless they secured approved medical or religious exemptions.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown, who was appointed to the District Court for the Southern District of Texas by then-President Donald Trump, issued a nationwide injunction against the requirement in January. At the time, the White House said 98% of federal workers were already vaccinated.

Brown’s ruling was followed by back-and-forth rulings at the 5th Circuit.

In February, a 5th Circuit panel refused to block Brown’s ruling pending appeal.

But after hearing arguments in March, a different panel ruled 2-1 that Brown did not have jurisdiction in the case. The panel said those challenging the requirement could have pursued administrative remedies under Civil Service law. Although the ruling was issued in April, it was not to officially take effect until May 31.

Judges Carl Stewart and James Dennis, who were nominated to the 5th Circuit by Democratic President Bill Clinton, were in the majority. Judge Rhesa Barksdale, a senior judge nominated by Republican President George H.W. Bush, dissented, saying the relief the challengers sought does not fall under the Civil Service Reform Act cited by the administration.

Barksdale is a senior judge, meaning he has a reduced case load and is no longer on active status at the court. Because he was part of the ruling panel he can participate in the reconsideration with the active judges. Of the 17 judges currently listed as active judges at the 5th Circuit, 12 are appointees of Republican presidents, including six nominated to the court by Trump.

When the case was argued before the three-judge 5th Circuit panel in March, administration lawyers had noted that district judges in a dozen jurisdictions had rejected a challenge to the vaccine requirement for federal workers before Brown ruled.

The administration argued the Constitution gives the president, as the head of the federal workforce, the same authority as the CEO of a private corporation to require that employees be vaccinated.

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Biden announced in September that more than 3.5 million federal workers were required to undergo vaccination, with no option to get regularly tested instead, unless they secured an approved medical or religious exemption. A U.S. official said the vast majority of federal workers are fully vaccinated, and that a smaller number have pending or approved exceptions to the mandate.

In all, more than 95% of federal workers are in compliance with the Biden mandate, the official said, either by being vaccinated or having requested an exemption. Workers who are not in compliance are set to begin a “counseling” process that could ultimately result in their termination if they don’t get a shot or secure an approved exception to vaccination.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the statistics because the official wasn’t authorized to speak on the record before their official release later Monday.

The deadline is a major test of Biden’s push to compel people across the country to get vaccinated, as his administration has emphasized that vaccination is the nation’s surest way out from the pandemic. Beyond the federal worker rule, his administration is looking to compel large businesses to institute vaccinate-or-testing requirements that would cover more than 84 million workers, though plans for January enforcement have been on hold pending litigation.

There was considerable concern over whether federal employees would follow the mandate, particularly in law enforcement and intelligence agencies where there was vocal resistance, and among federal workers involved in the travel sector heading into the busy holiday travel season

The White House says they don’t anticipate any federal disruptions from the mandate. At the Federal Aviation Administration, 99% of employees are in compliance with Biden’s order, at the Transportation Security Administration, 93% are in compliance, and 98% of Customs and Border Protection workers are in compliance.

The official said that on Wednesday the Office of Management and Budget would release a breakdown of agency compliance rates.

According to the official, nearly 25% of the Internal Revenue Service’s employees started getting vaccinated after Biden’s announcement, and 98% of its employees are now in compliance with the requirement.

Just about two weeks ago, several intelligence agencies had at least 20% of their workforce unvaccinated as of late October, said U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association President Larry Cosme said around the same time that there are about 31,000 members from 65 federal law enforcement agencies in the association and he estimated 60% of them have been vaccinated.

The White House is now aiming to use the federal vaccination mandate as a model for private businesses to implement their own mandates even before litigation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s is resolved.

Since Biden announced the first federal mandates earlier this summer, the number of unvaccinated Americans aged 12 and over has dropped from about 100 million to under 60 million. Health officials emphasize that the overwhelming majority of instances of serious illness and death from COVID-19 now occur among those who haven’t received a vaccine.

—

AP writer Colleen Long contributed.

ZEKE MILLER | AP News

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is pushing forward with a massive plan to require millions of private sector employees to get vaccinated by early next year. But first, he has to make sure workers in his own federal government get the shot.

About 4 million federal workers are to be vaccinated by Nov. 22 under the president’s executive order. Some employees, like those at the White House, are nearly all vaccinated. But the rates are lower at other federal agencies, particularly those related to law enforcement and intelligence, according to the agencies and union leaders. And some resistant workers are digging in, filing lawsuits and protesting what they say is unfair overreach by the White House.

The upcoming deadline is the first test of Biden’s push to compel people to get vaccinated. Beyond the federal worker rule, another mandate will take effect in January aimed at around 84 million private sector workers, according to guidelines put out this past week.

On Saturday, a federal appeals court in Louisiana temporarily halted the vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers. The administration says it is confident that the requirement will withstand legal challenges in part because its safety rules preempt state laws.

“The president and the administration wouldn’t have put these requirements in place if they didn’t think that they were appropriate and necessary,” Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “And the administration is certainly prepared to defend them.”

If the mandates are a success, they could make the most serious dent in new coronavirus cases since the vaccine first became available, especially with the news this past week that children ages 5-11 can get the shot making an additional 64 million people eligible. But with two weeks remaining until the federal worker deadline, some leaders of unions representing the employees say that convincing the unvaccinated to change their mind is increasingly challenging.

“I got the vaccine in February, it was my own choice and I thought it would stop the virus,” said Corey Trammel, a Bureau of Prisons correctional officer and local union president in Louisiana. “But it hasn’t. And now I have people resigning because they are tired of the government overreach on this, they do not want to get the shot. People just don’t trust the government, and they just don’t trust this vaccine.”

Vaccines have a proven track record of safety, backed by clinical trials and independent reviews showing them overwhelmingly effective at preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19. More than 222 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose and more than 193 million are fully vaccinated. More than half of the world population has also received a shot.

Scientists have been battling anxiety over the vaccine since it was first authorized; an AP-NORC poll earlier this year found one-third of adults in the U.S. were skeptical, despite assurances the vaccine was safe and effective and few instances of serious side effects. About 70% of American adults are fully vaccinated and 80% have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

Vaccinations have unfolded at uneven rates across the federal government.

Officials at Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Housing and Urban Development said they were working on getting their employees vaccinated but had no figures yet.

Several intelligence agencies had at least 20% of their workforce unvaccinated as of late October, said U.S. Rep. Chris Stewart, a Utah Republican who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee.

Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association President Larry Cosme said there are about 31,000 members from 65 federal law enforcement agencies in the association and he estimated 60% of them have been vaccinated.

Homeland Security, a giant government department with more than 240,000 employees, was about 64% fully vaccinated by the end of last month. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has received at least 6,000 requests for medical or religious exemptions, according to the union that represents Border Patrol agents.

Federal agencies are warning employees about the upcoming mandate, offering time off to get the vaccine and encouraging workers to comply. But they won’t be fired if they don’t make the Nov. 22 deadline. They would receive “counseling” and be given five days to start the vaccination process. They could then be suspended for 14 days and eventually could be terminated, but that process would take months.

Republicans have argued the mandate goes too far. House Oversight Committee Republicans sent a letter in late October suggesting the president’s “authoritarian and extreme mandates infringe upon American freedoms, are unprecedented, and may ultimately be deemed unlawful.”

In their letter, Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and Jody Hice of Georgia said they worried about a large number of government vacancies should thousands of workers refuse and get fired. That concern was also felt by those in the already-understaffed Bureau of Prisons.

A federal corrections officers union in Florida filed a lawsuit this past week over the mandate, saying it was a violation of civil rights. Some prison workers say they’re torn about the vaccine, not wanting to lose their livelihoods but also unwilling to sacrifice their personal beliefs. Officers near retirement age are contemplating leaving rather than go through with the vaccine.

One prison worker in West Virginia texted a colleague that the worker wasn’t willing to be a guinea pig, writing: “It would be different if it wasn’t new. But it is. And I don’t wanna be your experiment.”

The worker, describing how agonizing the decision had been, said: “I’ve cried and puked so much my eyes and stomach hurts.” The worker wondered if it was wrong to stand firm against the vaccine.

Border Patrol employees have been directed to confirm their vaccination status by Tuesday, according to union President Brandon Judd. As of Thursday, 49% of Border Patrol agents responded to say they are fully vaccinated and about 7% reported not being vaccinated, Judd said.

It’s unclear at this point how many will continue to refuse if they aren’t granted an exemption and face losing their job as a result.

“When it comes down to losing your livelihood or getting vaccinated, I think the vast majority are going to ultimately get vaccinated,” Judd said. “We are going to lose people. How many? I really couldn’t predict that.”

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