THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996             TAG: 9601030404
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

ONE MAN'S RESPONSE: AT LEAST, CONGRESS IS STICKING TO ITS GUNS

The government is working, Mike Fremaux says, even if he isn't.

Furloughed from his government contractor's job for two weeks and two days, the Newport News man is taking a philosophical approach to his forced leave.

``This is the first time that a group of Congresspeople have gone in there and done what they said they were going to do when they made their campaign promises. I admire them for sticking to their guns,'' Fremaux said.

``We want this to end as soon as possible but to say government isn't doing its job is wrong. The system is working as designed. It's like a circuit breaker. It's working. Something has to be done or we're not going to have a real viable future in this country.''

Fremaux, who works - when he is allowed to work - doing wind-tunnel testing on airplanes for Lockheed Martin Corp. at NASA Langley Research Center, has spent the past two weeks doing household maintenance and Christmas shopping.

``There's only so much we can do around the house,'' he said. ``I want to go back to work tomorrow, but I don't expect to.''

Still, he is not angry or bitter. ``There's no guarantee when you have a job with the government that you're always going to have that job,'' Fremaux said. ``Nobody promised that I wouldn't have problems and it wouldn't be political.

``The one thing I will say that I had a big problem with is the fact that they took a whole week off and didn't discuss it at all,'' he added, referring to the weeklong break in budget negotiations between President Clinton and Congressional leaders. ``That's tough to swallow. If you're not meeting, you're not making any progress.''

Fremaux's furlough is easier than some others because his wife works, and the couple has no children. So he passes the time working on his house, watching CNN and reading the newspaper to track the negotiations.

``My wife and I have always tried to be very conservative and save for a rainy day,'' he said. `` And I guess we're having a rainy day.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo

Mike Fremaux, who - when he's working - does wind-tunnel testing for

NASA Langley, says government is indeed working.

KEYWORDS: BUDGET LAYOFF FEDERAL EMPLOYEE by CNB