Bay Area federal workers cautiously optimistic about end of shutdown

TAMPA, Fla. (FOX 13) - Federal workers were cautiously optimistic Friday, hours after President Trump signed a short-term spending bill to re-open the government, ending the longest partial federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

The president signed the stop-gap spending bill just hours after the measure passed the Senate and House, respectively.

"I was actually shocked because I didn't see an end in sight because it was doom and gloom because I didn't see both sides negotiating," said Joe Rojas, a prison guard an union president at Coleman Correctional Complex in Sumter County. "I am happy that we are going to get a paycheck. I missed two paychecks, but I'm also cautious because in three weeks, February 15th, we might go through the same routine again."

February 15 is the deadline set by the president and Congress to iron out a long-term budget.

The shutdown lasted 35 days, leaving some 800,000 government workers in limbo.

"These 35 days feel like 35 years," said Rojas, who represents more than 1,100 staff members at the prison, many of whom worked for free for more than a month. "For us to come to work in a toxic environment and deal with what we deal with and not get paid to protect society, it's ridiculous. It's shameful."

President Trump said he expects federal workers who have been working without pay or who have been furloughed to begin receiving back-pay in the coming days.

Rojas said he blames Republicans and Democrats for their inability to come to an agreement sooner.

"To play with human lives like that and families, it's un-American," he said.

But Rojas said he and his coworkers understand they could be back in this same position in three weeks if lawmakers are unable to hammer out a deal.

FOX 13 Political Editor Craig Patrick weighed in on what he expects moving forward.

"We could be right back where we are in three weeks, but there is a much greater likelihood that history will not repeat," he said. "The president has changed his process. Instead of pressing a specific policy proposal that Democrats disagree with, he is now deferring to Democrats and Republicans in a conference committee to work out something on their own. He is saying that if Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill say that they share border security as a top priority for them as he does himself, then [they can] figure it out."

Patrick also believes both sides realized the toll the shutdown was taking on the economy, federal agencies and, most of all, the workers.

"If you look at damage to the U.S. economy in general, the president's chief economist placed that at one-point-two billion dollars a week. That's around six billion dollars just in losses to the U.S. economy," he said. "Clearly this has cost more than the five-point-seven billion dollars [President Trump wanted for the border wall] that was at the heart of the dispute that caused this shutdown in the first place."

During his announcement, President Trump made reference to his previous threats to declare a national emergency to secure the border, calling it a “very powerful weapon," and noted that if no deal was reached to fund border security and construction of a wall before Feb. 15, he would use his presidential powers to declare an emergency.

“Walls should not be controversial,” he said. “As commander-in-chief, my highest priority is the defense of our great country.”