Not totally true, most civilian government employees get paid every two weeks. We were just paid on the 18th and the next pay period will fall on the 31st because the 1st is a holiday.  Truth is most federal offices are pretty much empty this time of year because most take vacation and the ones that are left dont do much anyways. Most of the folks would be returning to work from vacation on either January 2nd or finish that week off and return on Jan 7th. This is the perfect time for a shutdown, I happen to be one that is getting furloughed and I support shutting it down for as long as it takes..