Civil Service?

        You remember the hullabaloo over the Congressional attempt to gut the ethics office that got stopped in its tracks. Well, during all that furor, another rule slipped by unnoticed. It seems now that House members or Senators can reduce federal employees'  annual pay to $1. Apparently there was an obscure, 1876, procedural rule that now allows them to single out Federal employees who are protected by civil service because it was voted in according to an article in the Washington Post.
        So if a Congressman doesn't like the way you ignored his wishes he can get even. He may not be able to fire you, but he can reduce your income to $1 per year. You'd better be sure nobody knows how you voted last year and no signs in the yard. So if you're a nuclear physicist and you spoke out about a Senator who doesn't believe in science, be prepared to try to live on a buck a year. How does one make a house payment on a twelfth of a dollar?
       On that kind of income eating out would take on a whole new meaning. The rule was originally intended  as a hedge against political patronage, but now it will have a completely different use, that of payback. Of course Republicans in the House assured that such use would be unlikely. Ya know, I have a bridge to New York city I'd like to sell you at a very good price.
       I guess that from now on, if a ridiculous bill comes up and there's a big to-do about it, look for some other sneaky and bad bill to slip in. Yep, if you've got a particularly smelly piece of fish you want to pass off, wrap it in pretty paper with a bottle of cheap perfume. What this means is that civil service is really meaningless. They might not be able to fire you, but if you're only gonna get $! per year, you'll be looking for a new job.