What is owed and what is deserved.
I want to be clear on two things here so that anybody reading this is also clear on it.
1) The back pay will not go to all furloughed workers. There are 800,000 who will; but contracted employees, who push that number to over a million, were not made eligible for back pay, as they rarely are. Such employees include workers such as security guards, cafeteria staff, and custodians within federal buildings, who are already paid so little that saving money is a difficulty.
2) Some of these workers missed car payments, mortgage payments, or other loan payments while they focused on necessities like food and heat. When you miss a loan payment, it not only means you have to make up for it on the next bill, but depending on your situation you may also take a hit on your credit rating, which affects things like your ability to get a house or car in the future.
I mention this because Republicans are going to be furiously spinning the idea that the back pay—which I hasten to add only happened because Senate Democrats refused to let the Senate adjourn without it—means that the shutdown amounted to no real, lasting harm done.
Do not, under any circumstances, allow them that. Make them wear the consequences of their cruel and useless politics like the tar and feathers they should actually be coated in.
Creative Control 