Deal spares federal workers before Christmas but there's concern about possible job cuts under Trump
Johnny Zuagar says he tried to hide his worries about a potential government shutdown from his three boys as he weighs how much to spend on Christmas presents
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Johnny Zuagar said he tried to hide his worries about a potential government shutdown from his three boys as he weighed how much to spend on Christmas presents.
“I’ve got to keep a poker face,” Zuagar, a statistician at the U.S. Census Bureau, said when thinking about his boys, ages 14, 12 and 6. “You’re just trying to take that worry off of your family.”
Like thousands of federal workers, Zuagar had been navigating the holidays with the spirit of the season overtaken by an air of gloom and uncertainty.
The efforts in Congress to reach an agreement on keeping the government open had cast a cloud over the holidays for many federal workers facing the prospect of furloughs in the days before Christmas. But Congress passed a three-month spending bill early Saturday, just after the midnight deadline, and President Joe Biden signed it into law hours later. There was no shutdown.
