On one side of Capitol Hill, lawmakers are bickering over the budget.
But just beyond the marble steps, furloughed government workers are shooting $3 “Shut it Down” whiskey shots and playing “political ping pong” — regular table tennis, but with lawmakers’ faces plastered on the paddles.
Freed from the shackles of their desks and BlackBerrys, federal workers who are locked out of their offices in the shutdown are filling up bars and restaurants. “Screw the Shutdown. Come drink with us til 2 am,” Capitol Lounge said in an online invitation. “What else do you have to do?”
Full story: ‘Furloughed federal employees drink up around D.C.’