While only a quarter of the Bureau of Land Management’s staff has been placed on furlough so far during the federal government shutdown, there are signs that might change soon.
BLM’s contingency plan calls for roughly 75 percent of its 9,250 employees to continue working, and many are getting paid with non-appropriated funding, such as carryover funds or money collected by fees. Only 2,400 BLM employees have been furloughed.
But that is already changing for some of the 4,000 employees that BLM’s contingency plan lists as either on an “exempted” or “excepted” status, which means, respectively, that their ongoing work is paid for through fees or other available money or they are authorized to work without pay during the shutdown because of their positions, such as people in law enforcement.
Some of the funding available to keep some employees working is starting to run out, according to four BLM staffers with knowledge of the situation who said very little detailed information about funding levels and timelines is being shared with employees. All were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
