Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., a federal employee advocate, joined the call Friday. Tony Avelar/AP file photo

“When I looked at my paycheck the other day, it was a shock to see how small it was,” Doug Mehring told reporters on a conference call Friday hosted by the Federal-Postal Coalition.

Mehring, a brick mason at Scott Air Force Base near St. Louis, was recalled to work Oct. 7 after four days of furlough. His most recent paycheck was only 60 percent of its usual total, though he — and several other federal employees on the call Friday — largely voiced concerns about the shutdown outside of that personal impact.

Lee Stone, a senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said conferences he has missed and experiments he has canceled while on furlough represent a vast amount of lost knowledge. Tests involving artificial gravity, g-20 centrifuges, 747 airplanes with giant telescopes attached and potential causes of a recent crash at San Francisco International Airport have all fallen victim to the shutdown. Continue reading “Furloughed Feds Aren’t Just Worried About Smaller Paychecks”