Hotline set up for central Ohio federal workers during shutdown

As the partial federal shutdown dragged on, Reps. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, Joyce Beatty, D-Jefferson Township, and Troy Balderson, R-Zanesville, teamed up Friday to launch a hotline for federal workers impacted by the partial shutdown.

The Ohio Federal Employees Impacted by Shutdown hotline is designed for federal workers, both furloughed and deemed essential, as well as contracted, impacted by the current government shutdown who live in the 3rd, 12th and 15th central Ohio congressional districts.

The phone number for the hotline is 1-833-876-0937. Affected workers can call with help obtaining approval to file for unemployment or seek outside employment as well as information on certain publicly available resources for those affected by the shutdown, such as accommodations offered by major community banks.

Also Friday, Balderson joined the majority of the Ohio delegation in refusing his pay during the partial shutdown.

Stivers, who voted in support of a spending bill Thursday night that would reopen federal and transportation housing programs, voted Friday against a bill reopening the Interior Department, saying he opposed fund reductions and other provisions in that spending bill.

Sen. Rob Portman, R–Ohio, joined with eight other Republican senators to introduce a bill that would permanently bar the federal government from shutting down, ensuring that essential government services aren't disrupted and protecting taxpayers who must bear the resulting cost. Their proposal would create an automatic continuing resolution for any regular appropriations bill or existing continuing resolution, keeping the federal government open when budget negotiations falter before key spending deadlines.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D–Ohio, meanwhile, joined fellow Democrats in a letter to the Office of Management and Budget urging the Trump administration to work with federal contractors to provide back pay for low- and middle-income contract employees for wages lost during the shutdown.

This article was originally published by the Columbus Dispatch on January 11, 2019.