Steve Pearce Tells Furloughed Workers To Take Out Loans To Pay Bills

Rep. Steve Pearce Tells Furloughed Workers To Take Out Loans To Pay Bills

By Jennifer Bendery | Huffington Post | 10/11/2013 6:10 pm EDT
Excerpts:

WASHINGTON – “Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) has a suggestion for any of the hundreds of thousands of furloughed government workers worried about being able to pay their bills: take out a loan!

In a post on his personal Facebook page that was later deleted, Pearce urged government workers to call their banks and take out a short-term loan if money is tight.

"If you are a furloughed government employee, we encourage you to reach out to your financial institution as soon as you worry you may miss a paycheck," read the post. "Don't wait until you are behind on a bill; call now and explore your options."

Pearce spokesman Eric Layer acknowledged it wasn't the most tactful message, since it's the fault of Congress, not the workers, that the government shut down and paychecks have stopped.

ProgressNow New Mexico, a nonprofit group that advocates progressive principles in the state, circulated a screenshot of Pearce's Facebook post on Friday, before it was taken down.

Patrick Davis, of ProgressNow New Mexico, said the Facebook post shows how out of touch the wealthy Pearce is with his constituents. Roll Call ranks Pearce the 46th richest member of Congress, with an estimated worth of about $8 million.

“His constituents are among the poorest in the country, so going to the bank to take out a quick signature loan is not an option," Davis said in a statement. "Yes that post was in error and placed by staff. It was removed because it was wrong," Layer told The Huffington Post. "What the badly worded post should have conveyed is that many financial institutions have said they will not penalize people who have payment issues due to the federal furlough. But the important part is not to wait, but contact your financial institutions now, so they can adjust things."

The government shutdown is now in day 11, and House Republicans' popularity is plummeting in polls. A poll released Friday suggests so many Americans blame Republicans for the shutdown that they may lose control of the House over it.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/steve-pearce-furloughed-workers_n_4086260.html?ref=topbar
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IMO: Yes, it is Day 12. and the republicans are trying hard to save face, relieve their sudden panic, and get some kind of concessions from the Democrats in order to start up the government and pay our bills after signing a new debt ceiling agreement.

With their approval rate at an incedibly low 05% and their sudden realization that their jobs are in deep peril, the House republicans and their rabid co-horts, the tparty treasonists, still will continue to demand and extort the President and Congress into concessions that would likely only hurt the poor, elderly, and vulnerable.

President Obama and the Democrats in Congress must let the republicans swing on their ropes until crashing to the ground in total defeat.

This defeat of the republicans will indeed be sweet, for it will bring back the return of a working country and a working Democracy, something we have missed very much in our beloved country.

 

Sounds like good advice. A loan payment is better than killing your credit score.

 

Yeah great advice. Go ahead and put yourself in debt to pay your bills while we play our games. The right is shameful.

 

When my family went through this in another country, creditors where very sympathetic. Given the approval rating the senate has now, I suspect many businesses here would be equally kind to those caught up in this

 

Some might, some might not. I think overall independent credit unions would be more sympathetic than the banks that commit fraud on nearly a daily basis. I'd be weary of those banks anyway, but them offering 'interest free loans'? Yeah, read the fine print before you because another victim.

 

I doubt that in our country, our banks and other loaning companies like it when you cant pay off. They like the fines and late fees that add up.

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I doubt that in our country, our banks and other loaning companies like it when you cant pay off. They like the fines and late fees that add up.

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LOL , they are YOUR bills. PAY them. DUh!

 

While the high flying national banks might not care, I suspect the smaller local banks and community businesses might

 

Federal employees will be paid for their time off.

If they didn't put back some of their generous salaries to cover a possible shutdown, they're fools. Not like it hasnt happened before. (they got paid then, too)

Boohoo

 

It's not like they are getting back pay or anything......oh wait....

One would think there would be a union fund for this, maybe they donated it all to Democrats?

 

If it's good enough for the Government to keep borrowing money to pay their bill, why isn't it good enough for their workers?

 

What? The government is paying BANKS, not the other way around. What do you think quantitative easing is?

 

Federal government employees are paid roughly twice as much as their private sector counterparts. So they should have some money saved up for a rainy day.

 

Amazing, he told these government workers to do exactly what our government does. This guy is a genius. LOL!

 

If the RIGHT doesn't play its "games" won't the government then put itself in debt to pay their bills?

 

Where do you think the Government workers will borrow money from...loan sharks?

 

Some people will find anything to cry about. It's not even 2 weeks into the federal employees' PAID VACATION and they're already crying that a small percentage of employees might have to get a payday loan for some of their free vacation money because they totally failed to plan ahead after months of talk about a shutdown.

 

If you can get the loan. The problem is that many federal employees don't make all that much. Prison guards for example make less than $50,000 per year, receptionists make about $25,000 per year, these people have difficulty getting loans during the best of times, and probably are close to maxed on things like mortgages and car payments and credit cards.

 

Only at the higher levels. Prison guards, receptionists, clerks, etc. are paid about what they get paid in the private sector. They don't make great money (good benefits yes).

 

What do you think a federal prison guard makes? A federal receptionist? a clerk? An INS agent? a meat inspector? A TSA guard? They make a lot less than most people think.

 

Yeah, the reality is, there is a wide spectrum of wages and situations, not just of furloughed employees, but of 'essential' employees who have already been advised that their next paycheck will be short, and the one after that will not arrive until after the settlement.

Ex. you have DHS employees who come out of the academy as a GS-5 or GS-7. It is not simply a matter of them being irresponsible if they will be unable to pay their bills after missing a couple of checks. And, the kicker for them is, they still have to go to work, even though they are not being paid, and they are unable to take a second job on the side without written approval, which takes time, and which will likely not be forthcoming since the people who process the requests are furloughed.

 

They may make a lot less than some people think... but counting benefits and automatic increases, they make a lot more than people doing the same job in the private sector.

For example, a federal prison guard starts at grade GS-05, step 1, with an annual salary of $33,829 . The highest GS-10, step 10 pay is $61,031 per year. While the starting pay is only slightly lower, the top pay for prison guards in Texas is $48,000... more than a thousand dollars a month less than federal guards.

sources: http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Correctional-Officer-Salary-Details-Dallas-TX.aspx

http://www.ehow.com/info_8315097_federal-prison-guard-salary.html


Same with clerical jobs. The starting pay may be comparable, but top wages are drastically higher for federal service. Fact is... federal employees are elitist among the working class.

 

Go ahead and put yourself in debt to pay your bills by raising the debt ceiling...... Our Government is shameful....

 

The point being missed here is the shutdown has been looming for months. Employees should have been preparing for this. You know live within your means or below, frees up cash in cases just like this. I know this concept is difficult for liberals to understand, but hey, guess what? IT WORKS!!!

 

You wouldn't need more than 2 k

 

Facts. Such inconvenient things. Fooking Gov't workers are not hurting.