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Multiple media outlets have reported that Senate leaders have reached agreement on ending the government shutdown and increasing the debt ceiling. I call on Congress to swiftly pass this legislation. This is welcome news for the many thousands of federal employees forced off their jobs some two-and-a-half weeks ago by the shutdown. I am pleased that it looks as though the shutdown will end; but I said in the beginning this shutdown was not only unnecessary, it is unfair to treat dedicated federal workers in this fashion and a disservice to the American people who depend on government services.

According to reports, there is a provision in the bill to pay federal workers for the time they were furloughed. This is critical because federal employees have been out of work through no fault of their own and should not be made to suffer the loss of income and serious consequences that go with it.

Many of these employees earlier this year had to serve unpaid furlough days due to sequestration—and all of them have been under a pay freeze for three years. The shutdown furloughs have created enormous financial hardships for a workforce committed to public service.

During the shutdown, federal workers repeatedly expressed publicly their desire to get back to work. Now that this appears to be at hand, federal employees are eagerly looking to return to focusing on the important missions of their agencies on behalf of the public.