Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 26, 1994 TAG: 9404260133
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
All federal offices, Congress and the Supreme Court will close in a gesture of respect for Nixon, the nation's 37th president, who died Friday.
The Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery and window service for the day, although mail processing and transport will continue. Special Delivery and Express Mail will be delivered.
The honor was a matter of choice for Clinton. There are no rules or obligations attached to the death of former presidents.
Closing all federal offices and services, including the Postal Service, will cost taxpayers more than $330 million, according to figures from the federal Office of Personnel Management. Of that, taxpayers spend $308 million a day to fund the government payroll, and on Wednesday that will be spent for no work being done.
In addition, there will be an added cost of $23 million in ``premium pay'' for selected government workers ordered to remain on the job in case of emergencies, said Janice Lechance, a spokeswoman for the personnel agency.
A spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget noted that federal agencies will have to cut back elsewhere, including possibly on services, to make up for the $23 million. The money will not be added to the federal deficit.
There also could be costs associated with planning and carrying out a government shut down. The figure was $1.7 million when the government was shut down for three days in 1990 - one work day and a two-day weekend - during a budget impasse.
The Clinton administration did not make any study of the cost before Clinton made his decision, White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said.
The honor prompted criticism from some citizens, given that Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace in August 1974.
``I can't believe Clinton is spending millions of dollars to honor Nixon with taxpayers' money,'' said one Justice Department attorney Monday, who requested anonymity. ``It may mean a day off for me with pay, but I think that is wrong.''
In addition to the federal government, the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq market will close.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange said that it planned to close its stock index futures and options contracts Wednesday, but the Chicago Board of Trade plans a regular trading session.
by CNB