Backlogs, deadlines and a massive bureaucratic reboot await federal workers after shutdown's end

An avalanche of emails, backlogged permits, lapsed contracts and stalled payments to low-income Americans will face the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who return to work Monday.

For 35 days, they waited out the shutdown of nine Cabinet agencies and dozens of smaller ones. Now, they’ll face a massive bureaucratic reboot.

A return to normal operations could take weeks or even months. The National Park Service will need to restore basic amenities at hundreds of parks and monuments, removing accumulated trash and plowing multiple feet of snow. The Bureau of Indian Affairs must quickly issue grants to head off food shortages and a health-care crisis for Native American tribal members whose funding was cut off.

Inspectors returning from furlough to the National Transportation Safety Board will have to decide which of the almost 100 rail, plane and highway crashes to investigate first. And the Internal Revenue Service will race to train employees to implement changes to the tax code and hire thousands of temporary workers for tax season.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/backlogs-deadlines-and-a-massive-bureaucratic-reboot-await-federal-workers-after-shutdowns-end/2019/01/26/ed67e020-2189-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html?utm_term=.e2bd3f9c9f7c&wpisrc=al_trending_now__alert-politics--alert-national&wpmk=1