"President Bush's decision to give most employees a day off on Christmas Eve came on the heels of an announcement that the Pentagon was scrambling for money to pay civilian employees' salaries as a result of budget delays and might have to start issuing furlough notices. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have stepped in to suggest that the Defense Department find an alternative that would prevent furloughs. But the fact that the situation got to this point at all represents a fundamental problem with shaping federal employee pay and benefits policies."

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