Senate Staff Prepped for Shutdown
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Fox News has learned that Senate Chiefs of Staff were assembled for a meeting Tuesday afternoon to walk through the specifics of a government shutdown.
The meeting was held specifically to talk about which staff in their offices would be considered "essential" - or in proper shutdown terminology "excepted" --- and what happens with communications and other office functions.
Those staff not deemed "excepted" are not able to use their Blackberries or any other government property during the furlough.
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Fox News was told by several aides that the offices now have fairly wide latitude as to who can be deemed "excepted" - though the number of staff remaining at work is to be small, such as Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, and possibly Communications Director and/or Scheduler.