Some FBI agents and federal prosecutors face furloughs if the government shuts down Monday night, and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said he would take a voluntary pay cut because of political “dysfunction.”
“People are trying to make a political point, and I’m trying to run a Justice Department,” Mr. Holder told reporters Monday. “We’re trying to keep the American people safe. We’re trying to keep crime down. We’re trying to go after financial crimes. There are a whole range of things that we are simply trying to do.”
The nation’s top law enforcement official said Justice Department officials were still evaluating how many furlough notices to send out in the event that Congress and the White House fail to reach a temporary budget deal before midnight Monday.
“It is entirely possible that we will have to put on furlough FBI agents, prosecutors as a result of … the dysfunction that exists primarily in the House,” Mr. Holder said. “That is going to have a disruptive impact on the work of the Justice Department.”
He said he would take a pay cut in solidarity with furloughed employees.
“As I’ve made clear to the people in this department, we are all in this together, and whatever pain they suffer, I will share with them,” Mr. Holder said.
“This has real-world consequences for the employees of this department, who have to pay mortgages, who have to pay car notes, who have to buy groceries. And I think that is something that people, as they’re trying to make their political points … need to keep in mind, that there are good, hardworking Americans who are going to suffer because of this dysfunction.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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